Blindsided
by Kibethan
Summary: [COMPLETE] Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye, so his editor decides to shape him up to seem like a good guy by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by the name of S
1. I Have To What?

**Title: **Blindsided

**By:** Kibethan

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Gravitation. I don't even have the anime or the manga!

**Summary:** Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye, so his editor decides to shape him up to seem like a good guy by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by thename of Shindou Shuichi?

**Chapter 1**

**I have to what!?**

Yuki was sitting down at his desk, diligently typing the words to his next big hit. Next to him, the phone started to ring loudly. A quick glance to the side revealed that his editor was trying to call him. He looked at his calendar and frowned. He didn't have another due date for at least a month. Why was she calling now? He decided to just let it ring. She would give up eventually, right?

Wrong. After the phone rang for the sixth time, he picked up the phone.

"What the hell do you want?" He was pissed. She was supposed to have stopped calling after the first try! Not keep trying until he picked up. What if he hadn't been home? She could have been calling for hours!

"I knew you were there, Yuki-san. I need to talk to you. How about we meet for breakfast tomorrow at the little café down the road from where you live that you like so much?"

"No."

"Yuki-san. It would be in your best interest if you meet me for breakfast there. If you don't, then you will have to suffer the consequences."

"Such as?"

"Getting dropped from this publishing company," she said. Yuki's mouth dropped open. Getting dropped? That was a little bit harsh right?

"You wouldn't do that."

"I would. And I will, if you don't meet me for lunch tomorrow."

"Fine. But you're paying."

"Yes, Yuki-san. I will pay." With that, his editor hung up the phone. Yuki stared at the phone in his hand for a couple of seconds, and then hung it up. He continued to stare at the phone, even after he had hung it up. He wondered what all that was about. He tried to continue working on his story, but he couldn't concentrate on it, and he ended up just saving what he did have written, and then going to sleep.

Yuki did not sleep well that night. Nightmares of what could happen at breakfast haunted his dreams relentlessly. The entire night, he tossed and turned. If he _did _end getting dropped, then he would have to find another publishing company. Having to do that would cause him unnecessary stress and take forever. Plus, if he didn't find another publishing company, then he would stop making money. The money that he currently had would be quickly depleted by his lifestyle, and soon he would be penniless. Also, he didn't think that he had any other real talents except writing, and if he couldn't write, then what could he do?

He woke up the next morning, worse for the wear. He had huge bags underneath his eyes, and his hair was sticking up everywhere. His whole body was just dead tired. With one look at his reflection in the bathroom, Yuki decided that it would probably be a good idea to take a shower. At least that would get rid of his funky hair.

He stripped and stepped into the shower. He turned on the water and jumped about a foot in the air. The water was ICE cold. Well, at least that had woken him up. He stood in the shower, shivering, until the water started to warm up. It took a while, but eventually it got to be pleasantly warm. He lathered himself up with soap and shampoo and then rinsed it all off.

He stepped out of the shower, dripping water all over the floor. He cursed when he realized that he had forgotten to put a towel on the floor. Not only was it not there to soak up the water, but it also meant he was standing on cold tile. He grabbed a towel off the rack next to him and quickly dried off.

Once he was satisfied that he was no longer going to drip water everywhere. He walked into his bathroom and picked out what he wanted to wear for the day. His eyes strayed over his alarm clock and they widened. If he wanted to make it to the café in time, he would have to run. He threw on the clothes that he had picked out, slipped on some shoes, and started sprinting out the door.

When his editor saw him, she started cracking up. His eyes were still very baggy and he was very flushed from running.

"Good morning, Yuki-san," she said cheerfully. In all truths, she hadn't actually expected him to show up. She didn't intend to fire him either, but he didn't need to know that.

"Why did you call me out here?" he asked her, rather hostilely.

"We need to talk about this," she held out a newspaper with a headline on it that said, "Yuki Eiri Threatens Paperboy." She pulled out another newspaper that said, "Famed Author Yuki Eiri Pictured Here Yelling At Cashier." She continued to pull out paper after paper and everything basically said the same thing. "We need to talk about your public image," she told him.

"My public image? My public image is just fine!" he started to shout. Nearby he saw a flash and heard the distinct "click" of a picture being taken. Something told him that tomorrow morning a headline would be something like, "Local Author Found Screaming At Editor."

"Your public image is_ not_ fine, which is why I've volunteered you to do some volunteer work." She sat patiently sipping her coffee waiting for what she had just said to register in his brain. Three...two...one...

"WHAT!?" he screamed. He stood up really fast, knocking the table over. All the food went flying to the floor, and he got water all over himself. The entire time, his editor just sat there, still drinking her coffee.

"Sit down, Yuki-san. No matter what you say, you are _going_ to do this volunteer work. Or else, I'm going to be forced to take the drastic measures that I discussed on the phone last night with you." Yuki was about to scream something else, but he closed his mouth and held it in. He sat down back in his chair. The waiter's started cleaning up the mess, but Yuki's editor motioned for them to wait for a second while they finished talking.

"Where's the volunteer work at?" Yuki asked begrudgingly. His editor smiled, thankful that she was finally getting through to him that he had to do this.

"At the local hospital." Yuki almost blew up yet again, but he managed to contain himself.

"You mean to tell me," he asked through clenched teeth, "that I have to do volunteer work –where I don't get paid- at a hospital!?"

"Yep. You're scheduled to meet at the hospital managers in about an hour. Oh, and so you don't chicken out on the way out there, I'm going with you." Yuki looked downtrodden.

"Splendid," Yuki said. Yuki's editor walked up to the front counter and paid the bill. Yuki looked behind to where they had been sitting and saw the large mess that the waiter's began to clean up. He took out his wallet and added some extra money to the tip.

* * *

Yuki and his editor walked silently out of the café and towards Yuki's house. Yuki was silent the entire time there, deep in thought. His editor looked at him, and she kept seeing him furrow his brow over and over again.

"Is something wrong, Yuki-san?" Yuki shook his head and unlocked the front door to his house when they got to it. Yuki started to close the door after he entered himself in an attempt to block his editor out. She anticipated the move and stuck her foot in the door. "Not going to work." She let herself in and sat down in the living room on the couch. Yuki sat on the chair across from her.

They just sat there, staring at each other, for God knows how long. Yuki had long ago quit trying to control his editor by glaring at her, because he found out fast that she was immune. His editor, however, thought that the entire situation was quite comical. After all, it wasn't often that you got the mighty Yuki Eiri looking like he was about to cry because he had to do something good for the community.

Yuki's editor looked at her watch and saw that it was time for them to leave to go to the hospital. She stood up and gestured for Yuki to do the same. He took his time standing up, stretching as he did so. He started hobbling, and faked that all of a sudden he couldn't walk. Yuki's editor rolled her eyes and pushed him out the door. She made sure that Yuki had a key to his house, and then she locked the door on her way out. Yuki still hadn't seemed to find the use of his legs, so his editor pushed him all the way to the hospital.

She pushed him in the doors and was immediately greeted.

"Do you need help? Is he okay?" an overly worried nurse started to ask her.

"He's fine. We're here for a meeting with the manager."

"Oh. Of course! He told me he was expecting you. Go straight down the hall, and take the elevator the fifth floor. His office number is 516."

"Thank you so much." By then, Yuki could walk by himself again, and was sulkily walking towards the elevator. He got inside and pressed all the buttons so that it would stop at every floor. His editor had had enough of his childlikeness and was scolding him when they walked into the manager's office.

"Hello, welcome to Tokyo General Hospital, what can I do for you?"

"I'm here to check in Yuki Eiri. He's supposed to be volunteering here." The manager shifted his attention to the other male in the room, and studied him.

"Of course. I'm Ezaniya Akinori. We're going to have you working in the pediatrics ward, visiting with the patients and playing with the kids." Yuki snorted. He couldn't think of a person less likely than himself to work with kids. The manager raised an eyebrow. "Since you're starting today..." Yuki interrupted him with a giant cough. He hadn't known that he was starting right away. "Since you're starting today, I'll show you around where you'll be working and who you'll be visiting. You're going to be coming in every other day for a month, correct?"

Yuki started to shake his head "no", but his editor smacked him and told said, "Yes."

"That's wonderful, well, Yuki-san, if you'll follow me, then we'll get started." Yuki followed Akinori as he explained the rules of the hospital and where he would be going. "This is the first place you'll be going. You're just here to visit him, since he doesn't get very many, if any, visitors." The manager started to walk away, but Yuki grabbed his arm.

"Wait! What am I supposed to say to him?"

"Anything. Discuss the weather, ask how he's been, tell him how you've been..." his list kept going and going as he walked away from the room, leaving Yuki there to decide what to do. Yuki glanced at the chart next to the door that showed him who was inside.

"Shindou Shuichi. Male. Seventeen years old. Lacerations all over his body..." Yuki read out loud. He was surprised to find a seventeen year old in the pediatrics ward, but he didn't think too much about it. He stopped reading the chart and opened the door.

He surveyed the room before stepping into it, making sure that it didn't contain anything dangerous. He found that it was just a boring old hospital room with a hospital bed, a whole bunch of machines, and a television.

Yuki looked at the person that was lying down on the bed. He had bright pink hair, and Yuki found himself leaving the room quickly to check to see if he had read the chart correctly. The person on the bed seemed quite feminine. After re-reading male over and over he decided that Shuichi was, indeed, a male.

Yuki sat down on the chair next to the bed and just observed the boy, trying to figure out what he was going to be like when he woke up. Of course, that was all assuming that he was asleep. He couldn't really be sure.

Yuki reached down and shook the boy awake. Shuichi's eyes shot open, as they searched for whatever had woken. Yuki backed away in shock. Shuichi was looking at him, yet, he was looking right through him. Yuki darted back outside to check that chart again, and this time, he read all the way to the bottom. Yuki gasped at the last thing that he saw.

Shuichi was blind.

**End Chapter 1**

Okay, okay, so I decided to come up with a new story. I couldn't help it! It just popped into my head and wouldn't get out! I promise, I'll update Earthquake as soon as the writer's block on it fades. For this story, I'm not going to kill myself to get out chapters. In other words...I'm not promising a chapter a day. However, I will try to get them out in a timely matter.

Anyway. Like? No like? Please, review me to tell me. Thanks so much.


	2. Off to a Rocky Start

**Title: **Blindsided

**By: **Kibethan

**Disclaimer:** Nope, don't own it.

**Summary:** Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye, so his editor decides to shape him up to seem like a good guy by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by thename of Shindou Shuichi?

**Half-warning:** This story is rated PG-13. I'm warning you here. There is some swearing in here. More than there ever was in my Earthquake story, I think

**Chapter 2**

**Off to a Rocky Start**

Yuki took a deep breath and walked into the hospital room. Shuichi was still exactly how he'd left him: on the bed, sitting up, with a confused look on his face. Shuichi's head turned towards Yuki's as he heard Yuki's footsteps walk into the room.

"Hello?" Shuichi asked shakily.

"Um…yeah…hi…" Yuki answered him. Shuichi furrowed his eyebrows and cocked his head. Yuki could tell that he was trying really hard to remember if he'd ever heard his voice before. Yuki decided to save him the trouble of having to keep on trying to remember. "You don't know me," he said.

If it was possible, Shuichi got an even more confused look on his face.

"Then," Shuichi asked, "Why are you here?"

"I'm not here because I want to be," Yuki snapped at him. Shuichi cast his eyes down to the blanket on his bed, a pained expression written all over his face. Yuki's eyes softened as he remembered what the doctor had said earlier, about Shuichi never getting anybody to visit him. "Sorry…I was cast into this without any warning."

"I get it. Just leave." The pained look was still in Shuichi's eyes. Yuki's apology hadn't done anything to help ease the pain of not having anyone want him.

"I'm sorry," Yuki tried again.

"I don't care! I can tell by the sound of your voice that you don't want to be here! You just feel sorry for the blind kid! 'Oh…it's a blind kid…I should attempt to comfort him, when actually I don't want to be here'," Shuichi mocked Yuki.

"Hey!" Yuki started defending himself, "When I initially came in here, I had no idea that you were blind! I just knew that you didn't get many visitors, so I was going to be one."

"You thought that a jackass that I didn't know would make me feel better? Are you insane? You have some fucked up logic!"

Yuki slammed his hands down on the side of the bed. He was fed up with being insulted. It wasn't fair! Just last night, he'd had a normal life. Normal for him is to write, write, write.

"At least I'm not some blind kid that's stuck in a hospital bed with no one to visit him. Boo hoo. I bet you cry yourself to sleep every night because you're ALL ALONE!" Shuichi got really pissed off.

"Get the fuck out!"

"How long have you been in here, anyway?" Yuki asked loudly. He was on a roll, and wasn't going to stop. "Two weeks? Three weeks? A month? Longer? I bet you were abandoned here!"

"GET THE FUCK OUT!" Something snapped in Shuichi. His eyes got really dark, and he started shaking really violently. "Get out! Get out! Get OUT!" Yuki was surprised that nurses weren't racing in here to see what was wrong.

Yuki slowly and silently slipped out the door. He doubted that Shuichi had even heard him leave. Yuki looked at his watch. He had lasted in the room just over five minutes. He sighed. He had tried to last longer, he really had. Since Yuki was a kid though, he hadn't gotten along well with people. They tended to just piss him off. Or rather, he tended to piss them off. Either way, he just didn't get along with them.

He walked down the hall, intending to just quit the volunteer work and face the consequences. _Nothing_ was worth the distress he was having. He could get fired from the publishing agency for all that he cared. He stomped down the hall and in front of the elevator. The doors opened, and there stood Ezaniya Akinori. Yuki's eye's widened, but he just pushed right through the crowd that stepped off the elevator and onto it. Well, he tried to, but the doctor grabbed him before he could.

"Where are you going, Yuki-san?"

"Home, where I belong."

"You haven't even been here thirty minutes."

"It doesn't matter," Yuki explained. "I just cause people unnecessary grief. I'll be surprised if I didn't just permanently mess up the kid I was talking to. I have no people skill's whatsoever."

The doctor's eyes got a really worried look on his face.

"Which kid?" he asked.

"Shindou Shuichi." The manager's eyes got even more worried. Without another word he walked hastily to Shuichi's room. Yuki, intrigued as to why the doctor was so worried, followed along behind him. He stopped short of following him into the room though. He didn't think that he or Shuichi would be able to handle another encounter today.

The doctor immerged about thirty seconds later with a relieved look on his face.

"He's asleep. Thank God he's asleep."

"Why?"

"Yuki-san, I need to tell you some things about Shuichi. He's been here for about six months." Yuki's eyes went really, really wide. "As I told you before, he gets no visitors, and we're not even sure what happened to him. Somebody had found him on the street, picked him up, and dropped him off here. For the longest time we didn't even know what his name was, because Shuichi was in a coma for about a month. When he did finally wake up, the only thing that he could remember was his name. When we found out his name, we checked out police reports and schools, seeing if anyone had reported him missing. No one had, so essentially, he was abandoned here. We tried to send him to an orphanage, but he just kept getting hurt there. They bullied him because he couldn't see. He was hurt so often, that it just seemed wiser to keep him here."

Yuki's mouth was dropped to the ground.

"Wow."

"Also," the manager added as a side note, "we're pretty sure that Shuichi wasn't blind to begin with, and whatever had happened to him right before we got to him was what caused it."

Yuki tried to say something, but couldn't. He opened his mouth, but no words came out. He fished in his mind for something -anything- to say, but he didn't catch anything.

"If you want to go," the manager told Yuki, "you can. I'll expect you back here in two days, though. And I want you to be here for longer. Maybe I'll have you play with some of the younger kids."

"Okay." Yuki walked back towards the elevator. The doors "dinged" open and after all the people who were in it stepped out, he walked in. He pressed the button on the side of the door that said "L" for lobby. After stopping at every other level to pick up people, the elevator _finally _reached the lobby. Yuki was the first person out of the giant box when the doors opened. He walked himself over to the sliding glass doors that would let him out.

They opened automatically and he stepped out into the frigid air. It was absolutely freezing. It definitely hadn't been that cold out when he had left to go to the café that morning. He certainly wouldn't have left the house without a coat if it had been that cold.

It was so cold, that he almost jumped back into the warmth of the hospital. He decided not to, though. He'd had enough of the hospital for one day. On the way down the elevator, he had decided that he would do what the manager had told him and come back in two days.

He had been hell bent on not coming back before then. After he had met up with the manager though, and the manager had practically told him Shuichi's life story, he figured that he was obligated to come back. If not to just apologize to Shuichi. Shuichi deserved an apology, and Yuki would give him one. He just wouldn't give him one just yet, though. He figured that he wouldn't get forgiven if he barged up there and woke Shuichi up, then apologized to him. Shuichi still probably not completely be over the last meeting, and waking up someone when their sleeping is not the best thing to do if you're trying to beg forgiveness.

Not like Yuki was going to _beg _or anything.

With newfound resolve, Yuki practically skipped home. It would feel nice to do something nice for somebody else. He got to his house and unlocked his door. He stepped inside, out of the cold, and went into the kitchen. He put some water in a pot and started boiling it. He walked into his study to check his messages. The answering machine blinked that he had one message. Yuki pressed the play button, and then moved to his computer, listening all the while to what the message had to say.

"Yuki-san. It's your editor. I want you to call me when you get this and tell me how your first day volunteering went. I hope that it went well, you have no idea how hard it was getting somebody to let you volunteer after your reputation. The hospital was my last hope. Anyway, I'm rambling. Call me."

The answering machine clicked off. Yuki reached for the phone, knowing that if he didn't call her back, he was going to get hell in the morning.

"Hello, Yuki-san," she said when she answered her phone. Quite obviously she had caller I.D. and knew immediately who was calling.

"It went like shit, thanks for asking," Yuki said, answering the message that she had left. His editor's voice immediately turned worried.

"Why? What happened?"

"I got into a fight with a patient." His editor was silent for a few moments. Despite the fact that he knew she was worried, he heard what sounded like laughter trying to be covered up in the background.

"You…got into a fight…with a patient…" She dissolved into a fit of laugher, more audible this time.

"Yes. Why the hell is that so damn funny!?"

"Yuki-san, even though it's in your nature to be mean, I didn't think that you would actually pick a fight with a patient in a hospital. That's one of the reason's why a hospital was one of my choices."

"Hey! I didn't start the argument."

"Yeah, like I'd believe that for a second."

"Seriously, I didn't!"

"Yuki-san…"

"Okay…maybe it was a little bit my fault. But it was part-way the kid's fault too." His editor was practically yowling when she heard that the person that Yuki had gotten into a fight with was a kid. "Shut up. You'll be happy to know, that despite the fact that I got into a fight, I'm going to go back to that hellhole that they call a hospital."

"Good. I want a detailed report on what happens after you get back from your second session. Alright?"

"Alright, I'll call you in two days."

"Bye, Yuki-san."

"Bye." He heard the click of his editor turning off her phone. He quickly did the same and started typing on his computer. It wasn't yet that late out, only about two o'clock. He did need to continue writing, even though he was now volunteering. After all, he did have a deadline to meet.

As he typed, though, he found himself thinking of ways that he could apologize to the blind boy. He figured that a straight up apology would probably be best. But he didn't know if he should get him anything to go with it. He might be allergic to chocolate or flowers, and he certainly couldn't get him a card; he wouldn't be able to read it! Yuki didn't think he'd be able to handle it if he had to read a card out loud to Shuichi. He might start cracking up in the middle of it, and then his apology would be ruined.

Yuki finally settled on getting Shuichi a teddy bear. It would be the perfect thing. Yuki wouldn't arrive empty handed, and Shuichi would finally have a companion that could be with him at all times.

Yuki started to continue writing his book, but ended up just stopping and shutting down the computer. He was tired, dammit. He hadn't had barely any sleep the night before, and the night before that, he had been on a writing streak and hadn't gone to bed at all. The day's events were finally starting to take a toll on him.

He walked into the kitchen and turned off the stove. He had almost forgotten that he had water boiling in there.

He walked into his bedroom. He had barely made it to his bed before he fell asleep.

**End Chapter 2**

I did it! Another chapter of Blindsided! And it only took me six days to get out! Yay! Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I don't have a whole lot to say here...so...

On to a review of reviews! I must say, I'm so INCREDIBLY HAPPY!!! Never before have I gotten 25 reviews for one chapter!!!

Anyway, here it is:

**Tati:** Congrats. You're my first reviewer! I'm glad you like it, **gravi addict:** I'm glad that you like it, **MC-88:** hehehe...I didn't forget about Earthquake. In fact...I'm almost finished with it! Na no da, **lollyflop:** I'm glad you enjoyed it, **Dark Mimiru-chan:** Here you go!, **Soralover1:**Unfortunately...this is as soon as possible, **Hiei chan:** I'llkeep it up, **Hammy-chan:** I hope that I've kept your interest!, **goku-the-saru:** slaps forehead. I should've known you'd say something like that..., **Kumagorou-kun:** Hehehe, I'm glad you like!,** i love athrun:** You mean, anew chapter like the one I just posted?, **Ildreen Love:** Yep...non-existant. I'm sorry if Yuki seems at bitooc is this chapter at times, **Queen of the Paperclips:** Is this regularly enough?, **Shirubaa Kitsune:** Are you waiting, still, afteralmost a week?, **CassiToTheStars:** I'm glad that you like it. I'm sorry thathe's a bit OOC at times. I can't help it, I just can't make him TOO mean..., **Little Fox Kit:** Glad that you like it much!, **tammy:** I'm gladyou think it's interesting, **Rin:** Do you still like it?, **Dana:** We shall see...we shall see..., **zafiro A carillo:**Don't worry...I will ALWAYS finish my stories..., **clari chan:** glad you like!, **Viriel:** TSUZUKI!!! I LOVE TSUZUKI!!!, **xxPetalsAndThorns9xx:** I'm glad you like my mechanics and story!, **sera:** Yay! I'm glad you're intrigued!, **Lara:** I'm certainly glad that you liked it,and Earthquake!

Well...that was a little big...but anyway! Um...yeah...I'm really tired. Still like? Please review and tell me! I love reviews! So much! The more reviews I get, the more motivated I am to write! Also, if you ever want to talk, my AIM name is Kibethan. I love chatting with people!

Happy Thanksgiving again,

Ki-chan


	3. In Search Of

**Title:** Blindsided

**By:** Kibethan

**Disclaimer:** I **still** don't own it, sadly enough.

**Summary: **Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye, so his editor decides to shape him up to seem like a good guy by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by the name of Shindou Shuichi?

**Half-warning:** Not really any swearing in this chapter...

**Chapter 3**

**In Search Of...**

Sunlight started to flood through the windows, with the intent to wake up the occupant of the room. Unfortunately for it, it hit the shades over the windows and was completely blocked from getting inside. Inside of the room, Yuki Eiri lay sleeping in a shroud of darkness. He snored softly and shifted in his sleep.

Yuki's alarm clock went off, loudly and annoyingly. Yuki's arm automatically reached over and shut the thing off, his eyes never opening. He lay in bed contemplating getting up. His alarm was set to go off at eight o'clock, which meant most of the working world was already up.

Dare he join them? He didn't need to go to the hospital, but he _did _need to get the teddy bear. He rolled out of bed a little too far and felt himself falling. He landed on the ground with a soft thud, wrapped all up in blankets. Cursing, he untangled himself and walked into the bathroom.

Taking a shower was one of the few things that Yuki believed that you should do every morning, or…almost every morning at least. This time, he wised up and before he got in the shower, he turned on the water and let it run for a few minutes to warm up _before_ he got in. Warm water led to a delightfully warm shower, and, in turn, supposedly led up to a nice day. It negated all of the negative things that had happened that morning.

After he had finished with his shower and had gotten dressed, he picked out the shoes that he was going to wear and slipped into them. He snapped on a watch, slipped a pack of cigarettes into his jacket pocket and walked out to his car.

Slipping into his front seat, he tried to figure out where one might go to purchase a teddy bear. It was especially difficult, because it had to be the perfect bear. It couldn't be one of the ugly ones that's eyes are hidden beneath tons of fur. Not that Shuichi would be able to see it though…but Yuki had a feeling that Shuichi would be able to imagine in his mind what the bear looked like once he felt it. A crappy gift generally equals a crappy apology. But…Yuki had all day to find a bear. How hard could it possibly be?

* * *

With defeated eyes, Yuki walked out of what seemed like the tenth store. On a whim, he had gone to the mall, thinking that it would be a good place to buy a teddy bear. It turned out to be a horrible idea. Sure, there had been teddy bears, but they had all been the ugly ones and had been terribly overpriced. And he was stuck at the mall, squashed between hundreds of holiday shoppers. 

He tried to push his way towards the exit of the mall, but ended up being pushed back into the store that he had just come out of. He tried again to get out, but he was pushed further back into the store. A vein in his forehead throbbed as he tried to get out of the store.

The mass of people suddenly parted, and Yuki had a clear path out of the store. He felt like Moses at the parting of the Red Sea. He started walking down the path when he spotted what was at the other end of the path: a crazy long blond haired guy wielding a gun, and a scarily chipper person, who looked freakishly like Shuichi minus the pink hair, waving a pink bunny around. He looked really familiar. Yuki almost lost his nerve and turned around to walk back into the crowd. He shook his head of such thoughts; there was a good chance that he wasn't going to get another opportunity like this to leave the store. Besides, the blond couldn't shoot him in public, right?

"I just love shopping in crowds! Don't you too Mister K?!" the Shuichi look-alike said. Yuki almost gagged on the cheeriness.

"No," the long blond haired guy said. Yuki almost felt sorry for him. "Come on, Ryuichi, find what he need, then let's get out of here." Yuki's eyes widened. It was Ryuichi Sakuma, the lead singer of the hit band Nittle Grasper. Yuki's brother was completely _obsessed _with Ryuichi. Every time he came over to Yuki's house, he brought his prized Nittle Grasper DVD and forced Yuki to watch it. Yuki had seen his face so many times, he was amazed that he hadn't recognized him right off the bat.

Oh man, was his brother going to be jealous of him when he told him. Yuki smirked. He was going to have so much fun tormenting his brother. He's have to call him the second that he got home. Assuming that he got home, that is. Yuki suddenly remembered his predicament of being stuck in the store. Walking quickly past Ryuichi and K, he got out of the store, back into the main hall of people walking. He was surprised that he hadn't realized until then how much Shuichi looked like Ryuichi. He shrugged, figuring that he just wasn't very attentive to detail.

Somehow, he had gotten all the way to the end of the main hall of the mall, and was about to exit, when he remembered the whole reason that he had come there in the first place. He still hadn't gotten Shuichi a teddy bear. Time was running out! It was already, Yuki looked at his watch, one o'clock! It had taken him almostfour hours to find nothing! Zip! Nada! Zilch! He was going to walk away without a teddy bear!

There had to be some teddy bear in the mall that was worthy of an apology, right? Yuki set his eyes in a straight line, determined to find the perfect teddy bear. If it were there, Yuki would find it. Yuki turned around and walked back into the crowd of people. This time, instead of trying to fight against the crowd, he would go wherever the crowd took him. Eventually, it was take him to every single mall in the store, and in one of those stores, there had to be a decent teddy bear.

After coming out of the first five stores with the crowd, he still hadn't found it. But Yuki wasn't giving up! He was going to keep searching if it took all night! After the next five stores, he decided that it probably _was_ going to take all night. He yawned as he went in and out of each store with the crowd. Almost the exact same people had been around him since he started, with the exception of a few people that had come and gone. They had been around each other so long, that Yuki had even struck up a conversation with one of the guys that looked as bored as Yuki felt. They chatted for a while, moving with the crowd. Yuki, with a lack of a better conversation, had told him about his teddy bear problems. Suddenly the man spotted the item that he had been looking for. With a happy whoop, and a "Good luck on finding the teddy bear" to Yuki, he jumped out of the crowd, and towards the item.

Yuki gave a sigh. He was bored once again without anybody to talk to. By then, he had been in what felt like fifty stores, and he could tell from outside that it was started to get dark out. His stomach grumbled; he hadn't eaten anything all day.

He considered getting out of the crowd and walking towards the food court to get some food. After all, he could always get back into the crowd later. Unfortunately, after being in so many stores, he couldn't remember which he had been in and which he hadn't, so he decided to just remain in the crowd.

It was a good thing that he decided to stay too, because in the next store, there it was. Yuki knew that it was the perfect teddy bear as soon as he saw it. It wasn't like regular teddy bears, in the sense that instead of being brownish or white, it was black. Also, his ears were tipped red. It had a red ribbon tied around its neck that looked very satiny, and the bear in general just looked _soft_.

It was the perfect bear, how all Yuki had to do was go over there and get it. He pushed himself out of the crowd, and over to where the bear was sitting. He reached out his hands to grab it, and just as his hands got a hold of it, a lady who looked like she was in denial about the fact that she was growing older snagged it out of his grasp.

He was pissed.

He breathed in and out, trying to calm himself down. It wasn't working. He had searched **everywhere** for the perfect bear, and no way was some lady with skimpy clothing and way too much make-up on going to steal it from him. He started to lunge himself at the lady, when somebody caught him by his shirt and pulled him back. Yuki looked at him in surprise, momentarily forgetting about tearing the lady to shreds. The person who had pulled him back was K. He had thought that he would've been gone hours ago, with them being able to walk right through a crowd.

"I suggest that you rethink what you were about to do," the apparently American from his very heavy accent said. Suddenly reminded about the lady, he turned towards her. She wasn't there.

He started looking around frantically. Where was she? There was only one bear that had been like that! K saw his plight.

"Don't worry," he said, "Ryuichi saw what the lady did and is going to make her give it back. He has his ways; you'll see that bear soon, I promise." Yuki looked at K with skeptical eyes. But, sure enough, in a couple of minutes, K and Yuki spotted Ryuichi skipping towards them with the black bear in one hand, and the pink bunny in the other.

"I got it back! All it took was a Kumagorou beam to make her drop it, and a stern talking to, to make her not pick it back up! Here you go, Mister!" Ryuichi handed the bear to Yuki. Yuki looked at Ryuichi incredulously.

"Thanks…" was all he said. Ryuichi smiled at him and then he and Mister K walked away. Yuki watched them as they walked away, and pushed his way towards the cashier. The line for the cashier was long, but it was moving fast. It was a good thing that it was moving fast, too, because now that Yuki finally had what he had been looking for, he was completely run out of patience.

"Are you having a good time shopping?" the cashier asked when he got to the front. Yuki gave her a deadpan look. "Your total is 1239 yen." Yuki gave her the money, and then hightailed it out of the store, completely breaking through the crowd.

Once he was outside of the mall, he took a deep breath. A _very _deep breath. Fresh air flooded through his system, and he just felt immediately better. The whole time that he had been in the mall, the air felt as though it had just been getting staler and staler, as though the air circulation system just wasn't working as well as it should have been.

He walked to his car and slid in. The clock on the dash said it was nine o'clock. Yuki did a double take. He consulted his wristwatch to see if it was indeed the correct time. It was. He was practically in shock. It had taken him twelve hours to find a stupid teddy bear! Twelve! Shuichi had better be happy. Hell, he had better fucking joyous.

Yuki's stomach grumbled loudly again. He was still hungry.

**End Chapter 3**

Okay...I feel a little bit bad. I said that I would update yesterday, but I didn't. Sorry...I was so excited about finally being able to read and write fanfiction again, that I just read. On the upside, my finals are finally over, and that means that it's WINTER BREAK!!! That also means that I'll be able to spend a lot of time writing! You should expect more chapters!

Onto a review of reviews:

**Becky Burke:** I'm really glad that you like it!, **Dark Mimiru-chan:** I'm sorry that it wasn't that soon..., **Kimika:** I'm seriously stoked that you like it!..., **panatlantic:** I do my best to write "cool" fics..., **sera:** There's going to be a lot of Shu-chan in the next chapter...don't worry..., **azure:** I like it when people think that I have awesome writing skills...makes me happy!, **xxPetalsAndThorns9xx:** Longer...got it...I'll try for that..., **Redroseprincess678:** I'm glad that you enjoy it!, **goku-the-saru:** NO!! Don't deprive me of Vanilla Live...must...see...again..., **Queen of the Paperclips:** I get what you mean, but I'm trying not to make Yuki be too evil...I'll try and make me more Yuki-like in the future..., **Black Silver:** That was mean? You must be a really nice person then! Um...Shuichi is 17, but everybody loves teddy bears! When I re-read it, I realized how OOC that was for Shuichi, but, then again, he was really pissed..., **WolfWater:** I like thumbs-ups!, **clari chan:** Thank you for the compliment! They are greatly appreciated!, **Miserable Midori:** I'm glad that you like it!, **Sargantanas:** I'm glad that you like it as well..., **Tammy:** I like teddy bears...they're so soft..., **Joonie:** Wow! So many people like it! So happy!, **Sliefoxx:** I won't forget about EQ, don't worry. I'm just trying to figure out how to end it!, **StrawberryPockyPoo:** Everybody assumes that I hate criticism! I don't! Really! Okay...it sometimes makes me feel like I'm going to cry, but after I get over that, I'm quite grateful that people write it! It makes me a better writer!, **Ayamari:** Thank you for the review! I'm glad that you like it!, **ice-of-spades:** Thank you for reviewing! It means a lot to me!

That's it! I think...if I missed anybody, I'm sorry! My reviews on aren't in order! So, I had to do it by chapter, and some people reviewed chapter 1.

:cries: not as many people reviewed that chapter. Did you people just not like it as much? :puppy eyes: Please! Review and tell me what you think! I'm shooting for a total of 75 reivews after this chapter! Will I be able to make it?

Actually, I'm kind of curious too...exactly how many people read my story? doens't have a counter! If you read this PLEASE review so I have at least a rough guess about how many people are reading it.

Thank you! And, until next time, good bye!

Ki-chan


	4. Second Impressions Aren't Always the Bes...

**Title: **Blindsided

**By: **Kibethan

**Disclaimer:** I no own, you no own...unless you're Maki Murakami...

**Summary: **Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye, so his editor decides to shape him up to seem like a good guy by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by thename of Shindou Shuichi?

**Half-warning: **You have been warned. For what? You don't know...but that's okay...I like it that way...

**Chapter 4**

**Second Impressions Aren't Always the Best**

When Yuki got home that night he was so full! Because he had been so hungry when he left the mall he had stopped at a restaurant for dinner. Unfortunately, his eyes ordered for his stomach and there was _way _too much food for him to eat. However, since the food was so expensive he didn't want to waste it. The concept of "to go" didn't really hit him until after he had gotten home and by then it was too late.

It was late when he actually got home. The smartest thing for him to do was to go to bed. After all, he was going to have to be on his best behavior tomorrow and he didn't want being tired to affect him. He waddled down the hall and into his bedroom. Quickly stripping he slid into bed and promptly fell asleep.

That night he had more nightmares of what could happen tomorrow. Lately he'd been under a lot of stress and the nightmares were coming to him in droves. What if Shuichi didn't accept his apology? What would he do then? Forget about it? It seemed like it was impossible for Yuki to forget about Shuichi. For some reason Shuichi just stuck in his mind and wouldn't leave.

It was driving him insane and he was losing sleep because of it.

Yuki forced himself to think happy thoughts in hopes of maybe finally getting some good sleep. Thankfully, it worked and soon Yuki drifted into a dreamless sleep.

He woke up the next morning completely rested and ready to face the day. Shuichi _was _going to like the bear that Yuki had got for him and Shuichi _was _going to accept his apology. As long as he kept thinking like that then nothing could stop him!

He glanced over at the alarm clock on is bedside table. 8:00. He didn't have to be at the hospital until 9:00. No matter, he needed to get up anyway. He had to make himself look presentable and there was always that shower that he needed to take.

After he had finished taking his shower, Yuki found himself back in his bedroom getting dressed. As he was doing that, he glanced at the clock. It was 8:40. He had twenty minutes to get to the hospital. It had taken him so long to take a shower because he had wanted to make sure that he was very clean. He needed to make a good second impression with Shuichi.

He had almost worn a suit when he remembered that Ezaniya had told him that he was going to be playing with the kids. Maybe it would be better if he just hopped into jeans and a t-shirt instead. He could still look snappy in that, besides, Shuichi couldn't actually see him.

He decided that the jeans and a t-shirt were definitely the way to go.

He threw on his jacket and headed out the door. Thankfully, it didn't take him very long to get there. He had almost forgotten the teddy bear –my, how stupid **that** would have been- but luckily it had been sitting right by the front door for that exact reason.

Once he got to the hospital he headed to the elevator and right up to the fifth floor. The elevators doors dinged, announcing that they had reached their destination and the doors slid open. Yuki gracefully stepped out and walked to room 516 to tell Ezaniya that he had arrived.

Luckily, Ezaniya saw to Yuki quickly and they hurried on to the pediatric ward. The kids were getting restless and they needed something to do!

"Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to go to the children's playroom and play with the children that are in there. Do you accept it?" Ezaniya told him.

"Can I say no?" Yuki asked him dryly.

"Nope…"

"Then I guess you know my answer."

They continued walked towards the playroom. Yuki slowed downed dramatically as they passed Shuichi's room to see if he could sneak a peak in there. It did not go unnoticed by Ezaniya.

"Feeling a little bit bad for what you did to him two days ago?" he asked Yuki. Yuki pointed to the teddy bear.

"That's what the teddy bear is for. It's going to help me with my apology."

"So you are going to apologize to him? I always thought that you were a really cold hearted bastard," Ezaniya said, sounding surprised. Yuki furrowed his eyebrows.

"I may be a cold hearted bastard, but nobody is _that _cold hearted as to not apology to a blind boy."

"I don't know," Ezaniya said, teasingly, "You picked a fight with a blind kid. Isn't that cold hearted?"

A vein in Yuki's forehead throbbed. "I didn't pick a fight him! He picked a fight with me!"

"Okay, okay," Ezaniya said, "We're here." Yuki looked at the door that was the entrance to the playroom. It was colored very bright colors and it had painted handprints all over it. It was very obvious decorated by kids. It was kind of touching in a way. Too bad that Ezaniya was warning Yuki about how monstrous the kids could be while he was admiring the artwork. It kind of ruined the effect.

"And remember…" Ezaniya warned, "Kids are not always as harmless as they seem to be…now go have fun!"

Ezaniya opened the door and shoved Yuki into the room. All of the kids that were in the room immediately looked up at him when he entered. Their eyes were wide. They looked like they had never seen a grown-up before in their lives.

There were mass amounts of kids in there too. The oldest seemed to be maybe ten and the youngest was probably four. Thankfully, though, there were no babies to take care of. That would've been a nightmare! As it was, it was probably going to be hard enough.

Yuki awkwardly walked around the room, unsure of what to do. All of the kids looked like they were doing stuff and didn't want to be disturbed. It confused him a little bit to see all of them doing stuff alone instead of getting in a big group and playing together. Didn't kids like to have fun with friends? These kids were no different from other kids, so they should've liked to play with friends too. Maybe they were too shy.

Yuki sighed, he was going to have to take the initiative and try to get a game going. Not necessarily a game that could injure anybody –although, what better place to get injured than in a hospital- and not one that could endanger anybody, for example if someone was in the hospital for an asthma attack you wouldn't have that person running around.

Unfortunately, Yuki wasn't sure what each of their individual problems were, so he couldn't do anything to rambunctious, such as a game of tag. Unfortunately, he also didn't know the number one rule with kids.

Don't bring anything in that you don't intend to share. The first good trait that kids are taught when they're young is how to share. Because of that, they expected you to share everything of yours with them. In Yuki's case, that included the apology bear.

Whenever one of the kids got a glimpse of it, they would come running over to see if they could have it, or at least play with it. Yuki kept having to say, "no" and it made him feel a little bit bad, especially when a little girl who looked to be about seven started crying.

That wasn't how it was supposed to start! The kids were supposed to like him, not look at him like he was the most evil person in the world. If they did that then they could make this month a living hell. That was the last thing that he wanted. He needed to get back ontheir goodside.

Kids liked stories right? Maybe it was best if he told them the tale about why they weren't allowed to touch the teddy bear.

"Oi! Kids, come here!" Yuki called out. Much to his surprise, all of the kids came. He certainly hadn't been expecting that. Maybe he was a kid magnet after all! Or…maybe it was the fact that he was holding the teddy bear in the air and waving it around like a flag. Whatever the reason, at least it got the kids that hadn't been around Yuki, around Yuki.

"All of you want this bear, right?" Yuki asked the kids. Each and every single one of them nodded. "And I've told you all that you can't have it, right?" All of the children's eyes immediately turned to glares and Yuki –for a fleeting moment- wasn't sure if what he was going to do was it a good idea. Thankfully, the moment passed and he continued on.

"I think you all deserve an explanation as to why I won't let you play with the teddy bear, and I'm thinking that all of you are thinking the same thing. So I'm going to tell you the story about why you can't have this teddy bear. Are you ready?" They all nodded. For some strange reason they were all intently listening to Yuki. Perhaps while they were in the hospital they didn't get as many stories read to them as they needed and they were craving it.

"This teddy bear is for someone very special. He's in this hospital, just like you, and he's even in the pediatric ward, just like all of you." Immediately all of the kids started to look around, trying to discern whom the bear was for. "No, no," Yuki said, "He's not in this room. He's in a room right down the hall. You see, the problem with him is he's blind." A collective gasp was heard around the room. "A couple of days ago I went to visit him, and me and him got into a huge fight." All of the bigger kids around the room started to glare at Yuki and Yuki gulped. "But…" he quickly started up again, "I felt so bad about it that I bought this bear to help me apologize to him. Do you think it'll work?" he asked the group.

Every single one of the kids nodded.

"Yes," the seven-year-old girl said, "he will definitely like it. He'd have to be crazy not to."

"Thank you," Yuki said truthfully. He couldn't believe it. The children telling him that Shuichi would definitely accept his apology boosted his confidence about a hundred points. Which was a good thing, because when he had walked into the hospital he hadn't had any confidence at all.

"Have you practiced what to say?" a little boy asked him. "My daddy always does that whenever he has to apologize to mommy." Practicing hadn't even occurred to Yuki. Maybe that would be a good idea.

"Can I practice with you?" Yuki asked the boy. The boy nodded happily, happy to be able to help.

"Shuichi, I…" Yuki found himself not knowing exactly what to say. It was the weirdest feeling in the world for him too because he was a writer and always knew exactly what to say.

"Shuichi, I'm sorry…" a little girl with a broken leg filled in for him.

"…I'm sorry that I acted like such a jerk…" one of the boys added.

"…I didn't mean what I said. I was very stressed out and unfortunately you were the one that I took it out on…"

"…You didn't deserve it and I certainly don't deserve your forgiveness…"

"…but if you can find it in the bottom of your heart to forgive me…"

"…please do. I feel bad enough as it is. I don't want to have to live the rest of my life knowing that I hurt someone wrongly…"

"…so I ask again. Please, please forgive me."

One by one each of the kids contributed another line to the apology to the point where it was so fluffy that Yuki was gagging. There was no way in hell that he would be able to say all of that without cracking up. And like he thought before, that definitely isn't the best way to do an apology.

He was sorry, but he wasn't sorry enough to spout stuff like that. Shuichi would think that he was absolutely mad! Of course, he was asking kids for help. Maybe he was mad. That was it. He was just completely mad! He would just have to go in and apologize like himself.

So what if it came out a little bit mean? It was the thought that counted right? Right? Okay. So maybe apologizing exactly like himself wouldn't be the best idea. Perhaps, if he mixed some of himself with some of the fluffy crap that the kids had come up with he would get the perfect mixture and the perfect apology.

It was worth a try anything.

"Okay, kids, thank you so much for your help. It was greatly appreciated. I'm going to go test it out on the patient now. Wait right here, I'll be back as soon as I'm finished." With the kids cheering him on, he walked out the door and into the hallway. He walked towards Shuichi's room.

When he got to the outside of it, he paused, a little bit anxious to go inside. Slowly he opened the door, not sure what he would find. He was hoping that Shuichi would be asleep, but that hope was dashed. He hoped that his other hopes wouldn't be as well.

Shuichi had heard him coming in. He sat up in the bed, with his back rigid.

"What do you want?" Shuichi asked Yuki coldly. Yuki mildly wondered how Shuichi knew that it was him. He took a deep breath.

"I'm here to apologize," Yuki said calmly. Shuichi facefaulted. He hadn't been expecting that at all. "I had no right talking to you like that and I hope you'll forgive me," Yuki had made his apology a lot shorter than the ones that the kids were telling him to say. "I got you this teddy bear as a gift. Please accept my apology."

"Apology not accepted."

"What?" Yuki asked, thinking maybe he'd heard wrong.

"I said, 'Apology not accepted.' What you did to me _hurt_. It hurt worse than anything I'd ever had done to me in my life. If you think that a couple of words and a teddy bearyou probably found in the garbage is going to make it all better, then you are living in a fantasy world. I suggest you get your head out of the clouds and come back down to reality with the rest of us." Yuki was in shock. He wasn't being forgiven!

"I spent twelve hours looking for the perfect teddy bear to give you! It did not take me a couple of minutes!" Yuki practically yelled. He wanted to scream at Shuichi so bad, but he held it in. He was, after all, still trying to apologize. Shuichi's eyes softened a little when he heard that it had taken so long to find the perfect teddy bear, but they hardened right back up again.

"It doesn't matter! I still don't accept," Shuichi told him, calmly.

"You know what…fine! But keep the teddy bear. I also bought you him as a companion since lord knows you don't get many people in here and you probably won't ever again." With that, Yuki threw the teddy bear at Shuichi. It hit him in the stomach. Shuichi grabbed onto it, feeling its softness for the first time. Perhaps he felt a little bit bad, but not bad enough to call back to Yuki.

Yuki stormed out of the room and back to the children's playroom. By the time he got there he had calmed down a little bit. He entered the room. Instantly kids ambushed him, asking him questions.

"He didn't accept it," he said quietly. All of the kids looked at him in shock.

"What?"

"He didn't accept the apology. I told him to keep the bear anyway."

"Why?"

"As a companion. He never gets any visitors, and I'm never going to go back in there again."

**End Chapter 4**

Alright, so I'll be the first to admit that it's been a while since I've updated this story...almost two weeks. Yikes! I'll try to get chapters out more frequently. I was working on "The Twelve Days of Christmas", though, because that story has to get out a chapter a day to work...

Anyway...onto a review of review...TT There are so many...so happy:

**goku-the-saru:** I'm glad that you got the bear thing, **Queen of the Paperclips:** Sorry! Sorry! I'll try to make him less OOC, but it's so hard..., **Soralover1:** I did didn't I? I'm trying to make him less OOC!, **robuddi:** Yep...TT I have to go shopping today, dreading, **Miserable Midori:** Really? I've got from the 12/9 - 1/3..., **CassiToTheStars:** I'm really sorry! As I said before, it was totally screwing up! I have to go shopping today...not looking forward to it, **Kloudy Reignfall:** Most likely they will make another appearance, **Little Fox Kit:** Of course! It had to be there!, **tokyo kitsune:** Yeah, no kidding, **ice-of-spades:** Of course! I love writing!, **clari chan:** gomen, gomen! Those errors drive me insane!, **Joonie:** hehehe...twelve hours...can you imagine?, **Lenora:** YAY!!! I love your review: **DarrkKatt:** Funky name I'll tell you that. I gotta go to the mall today..., **Wynjara:** I agree, I want someone like K too, **Megamie:** hehehe...I know...how evil..., **MC-88:** Oh, I missed your reviews, na no da!!! Don't worry about it, na no da!!!, **lemur130:** I'm thinking about putting Hiro in it, **Becky Burke:** Yay! I'm glad you think so, **mitzuki-kun:** I'm glad that you like it!, **Syaoran is kawaii:** Oh!! That makes me so happy! (only 2 more days of TTDOC left...), **Nekura-chan:** other fic? EQ? finished!, **Lily Avalon:** Yay! I'm so glad...I've never written a Ryuichi before..., **Sliefoxx:** Of course, you and your beta senses...thank you for the critique: **Reese Craven:** Of course. There will be lots more to come!, **Johnny-Depp-Luv:** It wasn't forever then, it's forever now!, **Haruna-Hakkai:** no worries, I'm 100 Yu/Shu, and 1239 Yen is approx...$12-$13..., **Tammy:** If I need any help, you'll be the first person I ask, **moony:** I'm glad that you like!, **Falcon Zanbandia of Nightmares:** Wow...you are so lucky because I was updating soon from when you reviewed! Thank you for the three reviews!

Hurray! Phew...that was a lot! AND!!! I MADE MY GOAL of 75 reviews and passed it!!! I'm so happy!!! Perhaps maybe I can get at least 30 more reviews for this chapter for a total of over 110? Please :does Tsuzuki puppy face:

Anyway, it's kind ofthanksto **Crazy 4 Grasper **that I even updated today...I wasn't really planning on it. I was gonna wait until Christmas.

But...Merry Christmas everybody!

Have a Happy Holidays

And...until next update...(which will hopefully be relatively soon...)

Ja ne

Ki-chan


	5. Sometimes it Pays to Walk in the Rain

**Title:** Blindsided

**By: **Kibethan

**Disclaimer:** Do you think I own it? I certainly hope not. I thought you were smarter than that!

**Summary: **Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye, so his editor decides to shape him up to seem like a good guy by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by the name of Shindou Shuichi?

**Half-warning: **Mild, mild, swearing

**Previously, on "Blindsided"**

"_He didn't accept it," he said quietly. All of the kids looked at him in shock._

"_What?"_

"_He didn't accept the apology. I told him to keep the bear anyway."_

"_Why?"_

"_As a companion. He never gets any visitors, and I'm never going to go back in there again."_

**Chapter 5**

**Sometimes it Pays to Walk in the Rain**

The kids gasped. All of them; in unison. It was funny really, to watch kids gasp all at once because it was something that did not happen very often. Yet, here it was, happening, right in Tokyo's own hospital. It was bigger a gasp than the gasp they had let out when Yuki had told him that Shuichi hadn't accepted it, and that was saying something.

All of them figured that since Yuki had spent so much time trying to find the perfect teddy bear that he would try to be with Shuichi forever. He was Shuichi's prince charming, right? Wasn't that why you spent hours trying to come up with the perfect apology?

It just wasn't logical. There had to be some mistake. However, most of the kids were self-centered and wouldn't usually care, and, actually, the only reason why the kids really did care, though, was because they had seen the look in Yuki's eyes when he had come back rejected. Even if they _were_ kids, the older ones could see the sadness and wanted to help him. The younger ones, always to follow the suit of the older ones, immediately began trying to help too.

Yuki was dead set against going into Shuichi's room again. His ears were deaf to the kids' reasons why he should go back. He just didn't care anymore. He didn't care that his best efforts at an apology –one of the few apologies that he's ever attempted to make- didn't work. He didn't care that the kids were trying to get him to go back in. And he didn't care that Shuichi would be all alone in his room. After all, Yuki had tried.

He did, however, care that his nicotine level was starting to go down and with all the stress that had just happened to him, he **needed** a cigarette; badly. He was in the children's playroom in the fifth floor of a hospital. He certainly couldn't smoke in the room, but there was no way in hell that he was going to go all the way down the elevator and out the doors just for a smoke.

No. No way.

Instead, he decided on a compromise. He was stay in the hospital but he would leave the playroom. That way the kids wouldn't pick up his nasty habit, but he could get to his cigarette faster.

He walked to the back of the playroom, emptying his pockets looking for where his cigarettes were that he knew he put in his jacket yesterday. Finally his hand located the box and he slipped one out, admiring its beauty. He knew that they were slowly killing him, but currently it didn't matter. His hand then started to search all of his pockets for a lighter.

He felt around and around and around but for the life of him he couldn't seem to find one. After what seemed like five minutes of searching for one damn lighter his hand finally fell into a pocket that he had forgotten about and found it. All was joyous. The birds were singing and the sun was shining; Yuki was finally going to get to have his cigarette. He completely forgot about the stuff that had been in his pockets.

"I'll be right back," he told the kids in the room.

"Are you going to see Shuichi?" they asked innocently.

"No."

"Come on!" they pleaded, "Go see him! He needs company!"

"If you're so desperate for him to have company, why don't you go?" Yuki suggested. He knew it was wrong to get into a fight with the kids, but damnit, they were starting to piss him off. "I'll be right back," he repeated again, opening up the bright door. Yuki stepped out into the hallway. He didn't want to go anywhere near Shuichi's door any more than he had to, so he opted to walk the other way down the hall.

He finally found a place that seemed rather secluded.

He raised the cigarette up to his lips, pausing slightly, as to tease himself. He lit the lighter and raised it up to the cigarette. Unfortunately, Yuki's bad luck streak was running longer than planned and around the corner came none other than Ezaniya Akinori.

Smoking definitely wasn't allowed in hospital and when Akinori saw what Yuki was about to do, he smacked his hand making the lighter drop to the floor. Yuki's cigarette remained unlit.

"What are you doing?!" Akinori asked him incredulously. He refused to believe that someone would be stupid enough to smoke in a hospital. Yuki, so angry that he went into shock, stared longingly towards the lighter that was on the floor. His cigarette remained at his lips as if by some miracle it would magically light.

"I'm smoking," he said to Akinori calmly, still looking at the lighter that was lying on the ground.

"There's no smoking in the hospital!" Akinori chided him. He grabbed the lighter and the cigarette. "I'm confiscating these," he said. Yuki's eyes widened. He hadn't had things confiscated from him since high school. And, ironically, it had been a lighter and a cigarette then too. He just didn't seem to have any luck with keeping them. The one that Akinori had taken was his fifth one is three months. He kept losing them.

No matter, he could just buy another one when he got home. Of course, that didn't solve his nicotine craving that he was currently having. There was a reason that he had wanted to have that cigarette.

It would've made him calmer for the rest of the day. Now he was going to have to attempt to keep his temper in check while he worked with the kids. There was little doubt in his mind that they were going to keep pestering him to go back to Shuichi and after having a cigarette; he might've been able to deal with it. However, since no cigarette was had, it was going to be hell.

Akinori had already walked away; he was going to put the stuff in his office before he continued what he had been doing. Yuki wasn't sure what to do next. He could go back into the playroom, which he knew he was going to have to do eventually but was dreading. Or he could just stand there like an idiot. He could also see if Shuichi was all right, but he knew that that wasn't going to be happening any time soon.

Out of all the options that he had to choose from, going back into the playroom seemed like the best idea, even if it did give him a headache. As long as he could control his temper, life would be just great.

Giving himself a pep talk, he marched into the playroom. The kids had started to get used to his presence and were getting comfortable around him. And, as much as he hated to admit it, he was starting to become more comfortable around them as well. Playing with them was getting more and more relaxing. Sure, he had to break up the occasional fight, but besides that all was well. After all, what's more relaxing than doing a puzzle, or playing a game –even if he had to lose on purpose?

A little girl –she looked about six- with a noticeable limp walked up to him with a puzzle stretched out in her arms. Not even needing to say a word the two of them began to work on said puzzle.

The puzzle was a lot harder than it had looked at first glance and Yuki found himself working on the puzzle with the girl for a long time. They had also gathered some other kids to help them, but it hadn't gone any faster. By the time that Yuki finally finished the puzzle (a beautiful picture of two kitties), it was time for him to go home. He was glad that the kids hadn't pestered him like he thought that they would have.

As soon as he started leaving, the kids started to get worried.

"You're going to come back, right?" they asked him uncertainly. Yuki furrowed his eyebrows.

"Of course I'm going to come back," he said in a surprised voice. The kids kept asking him over and over if he was going to come back. Finally, he was starting to lose his cool. "What don't you think that I'm going to come back?" he asked them in a slightly annoyed voice.

"Because, you're not going to go back to Shuichi's room."

Yuki was shocked by the reply, but quickly got over it.

"I'm not going to never come back," he said again, a little quieter than before. He turned around a marched out the door. In his haste to leave he managed to accidentally leave the stuff that he had had in his pockets in the playroom.

Twenty minutes later, after a brisk walk through the cold, Yuki found himself back at his apartment. Remembering that his editor had wanted him to call her every time that he got back from volunteering he made a beeline towards his phone. The answering machine showed that he had no messages, which meant that his editor trusted him to call her. He didn't really want to break her trust, especially if it could mean his job, so he picked up and dialed the phone.

It rang once, it rang twice, and it rang three times. It was about to go to the machine when she finally picked up.

"Hello, Yuki," she said warmly, "How was your day?"

"It was hell, again, thanks for asking," he said.

"Why was it hell this time?" his editor asked in mock sympathy.

"The kid that I insulted two days ago didn't forgive me when I tried to apologize today," Yuki found himself telling his editor all about how his day had been. Unbeknownst to him, his editor was diligently noting everything that he said. She wanted to record any changed that might happen during the time that Yuki volunteered. After all, there were supposed to be some changes, right?

After Yuki had finished telling his editor his day's story, he hung up the phone. He immediately searched around for a cigarette. He wanted one so badly. He found a pack and he drew one out. There was a lighter by his hand and he lit the stick. For seven minutes Yuki was in absolute heaven, his nicotine craving waning dramatically. After he had finished the cigarette, he was at a loss about what he could do. His mind was drawing blanks on a suitable activity.

His eyes widened as he smacked his palm against his forehead. He was a writer; he should definitely write. He couldn't believe that he had almost forgotten what his profession was. Sure, he didn't have a due date coming up any time soon. His editor had postponed all his due dates because she knew he wouldn't have as much time as he normally would have had due to the volunteer work that he was doing. But that didn't mean that he couldn't get ahead on what he had to do. Full of resolve he walked into his study, fully prepared to get some writing done.

He sat down at his computer, opened the document that contained his latest story and just sat there. And sat there. And sat there. He mentally thought of things that he could make happen, but none of the ideas he liked enough to actually type them out. The great Yuki Eiri had a horrible case of writers block.

It didn't help that his mind kept drifting back to the day's events, mostly the rejection. It had hurt a lot, and even hours later; it still hurt no matter how much he managed to hide it. It was the first time that he had ever been rejected and Yuki was sure that he never **ever** wanted to experience that feeling again.

As it got later and later Yuki still sat at his computer, just staring at the screen, not typing anything. In the hours that he had been sitting there, he was written nothing. It bothered him a little to know that he had such bad writer's block, especially when he thought that he was immune to it.

Two hours later, with still nothing written, Yuki decided to just call it quits. He was beginning to get a little tired –writing nothing for hours can do that to you- and he laid his head down on the computer desk. Within minutes he was fast asleep.

Yuki's eyes blearily blinked opened. He was surprised to find himself staring at his computer screen. Had he fallen asleep in the computer room? It was comical, really. He blinked trying to clear his eyes. It wasn't really working, but he wasn't that worried.

He was, however, quite happy that he got the day off. He didn't have to go to that blasted hospital and that alone made his day. In fact, he decided that after he had taken a shower he would go out. Have a day on the town. Maybe he would find something interesting to do there. There had to be something he could do.

He certainly wasn't getting any flashing ideas for his story so he figured that he would just bag the idea of writing for the day. If Yuki was not inspired to write, then the story would turn out awful.

He hopped into the shower. Once again, it was quite cold. Yuki didn't mind horribly, but he was a little bit annoyed. He got out of the shower quickly and got dressed into some warm clothes. He started looking around for his wallet and keys.

His keys he found instantly; they were, after all, exactly where he had left them that morning. His wallet, however, was nowhere to be found. He looked around and around trying to figure out where it could have gone. He mined his memory for where he might have put it. He was drawing blanks left and right.

He rummaged through his jacket, seeming to remember that that was the last place that he had seen it. Unfortunately, it wasn't there. In fact, it wasn't anywhere. Yuki had turned his apartment up and down looking for the damn wallet and it wasn't there. He tried, yet again, to remember where it might have been. Perhaps he had been mugged and he didn't know it? He moved to call the police when he remembered.

The cigarettes. He had pulled out his wallet when he was searching for the cigarettes. They were at the hospital and it was the entire cigarettes fault. If he had had half a mind he would've quit right then and there for what they were doing to him.

Yuki sat down on the couch trying to figure out if it was worth it to go to the hospital to get the wallet. Sure, he couldn't get anything anywhere without it, but he really didn't want to go to the hospital.

Besides, he could –Yuki looked around- sit on the couch some more. Or he could attempt to write. He could even clean. Even to him the options seemed bleak and he figured out that he **had** to go to the hospital, no matter how much he didn't want to.

Groaning loudly he exited his apartment, very much pissed. The weather matched his mood perfectly. When he had woken up that morning it had been bright and sunny, the perfect day. Currently, there were dark clouds in the sky that threatened to pour down rain. Yuki hurried along, hoping to beat the rain. He didn't. He was less than halfway to the hospital when it started to pour.

It was absolutely pouring. Yuki was getting soaking wet. He knew that he shouldn't have gone to the hospital. He should've just taken his chance with the dust bunnies in his house. At least they didn't make him cold.

But, since he was already on his way there, Yuki continued. Finally, after he was thoroughly drenched, he walked through the sliding glass doors of Tokyo General Hospital.

Shaking off as much as the excess water as he could, he walked into the elevator. He had an objective. Get in; get out. The faster that he was out of that hospital the better. He marched into the playroom, ignoring the look of all the kids. He went right to where his stuff was laying; thankfully it was still lying in the same place and grabbed it, carefully stuffing it in his pocket.

He then proceeded to walk out of the playroom.

"In, out, in, out," he chanted to himself quietly as he made his way through the room. The kids were in so much shock that he had come back so soon that they didn't even bother him.

He continued on walked down the hall, his eyes directed down. He did not want to stay in the hospital any longer than he had to.

Since he had his head down, he walked past Shuichi's room without realizing that the door to it was open.

He was about 10 meters past it when he heard the sound of running feet. He turned around just in time to see a bundle of pink hair come flying at him.

Shuichi hit him going fast. Somehow, though, Yuki managed to not fall. He was in shock, though, as to why Shuichi was chasing him.

"I'm sorry," Shuichi mumbled.

"What?" Yuki asked Shuichi.

"I'm sorry for not accepting your apology. It was stupid of me. I'm sorry," Shuichi repeated. Yuki was thoroughly confused. This was the same guy that completely yelled at him the day before.

"Do you know who you're talking to?"

"You're the one who gave me the teddy bear."

"And, you're apologizing to me?" Yuki asked, still in shock. He couldn't believe that that was happening.

"Yes," Shuichi repeated for the last time, "I'm so sorry."

**End Chapter 5**

...I realize that it's been a while...but we're all friends, right? In fact, I'm willing to overlook the fact that I didn't manage to get 110 reviews. Although, I'm almost there. I'm happy, though, that the average is over 25 reviews a chapter, which is really my goal, but extra reviews are always nice.

Anyway! I'm here to give you an excuse, because I feel that you guys deserve it. I promise, that I am not making this up. I was all prepared to write before school started, was gonna write another chapter, when "BAM", school starts, and all of a sudden I'm thrust into the 18 credit lifeand the joys of teaching my own step aerobics and cycling class at the local YMCA. Needless to say, I'm rather busy. On the plus side, I'm taking a creative writing class, so hopeful my writing will get better...with any luck...

I have a life! That's my excuse.

Anway, onto a review of reviews:

**Lily Avalon:** Trust me, it wasn't too big of a request, but I just didn't manage to get it out by then. I felt so bad too because I kept your review in mind, **Crazi 4 Grasper:** I'm glad you like!, **tammy:** I'm glad that you still like it. As soon as I come up with a question, you'll be the first person I ask, **clari chan:** I'm glad that you like it, **Dark Mimiru-chan: **Would you not go depressive after being blinded?, **Johnny-Depp-Luv:** Sorry it took so long!, **Reese:** of course, I'm 100 Yu/Shu, **xxPetalsAndThorns9xx:** Wow...I'm never thought of that. Though, it's always on my mind now. Thanks for the constructive criticism, **CassiToTheStars:** I'm glad that you like it, **koo:** Hurray!, **Mizuky-chan:** of course!, **Falcon Zanbandia of Nightmares:** Hurray! I'm glad that you liked it!, **Kitsune Thief:** No worries, no worries, **Shuuichi-chan:** Thank you! You just boosted my ego, like, a hundred points, **goku-the-saru:** not for you! for Shuichi! How are you doing in 102, by the way?,** Silver on the Tree:** Yay, I'm glad that you enjoyed it!, **Soralover1:** I know who you are, no worries, **Sliefoxx:** I'm glad that you liked it. I'm sorry if this chapter wasn't as good, **Syaoran is kawaii:** Yay! That makes me so happy!, **DarrkKatt:**both!,**sakura blossoms4:** I'm glad that you like it!,**LilAngel12558:** Yes, Ryu-chan is an idiot, **Needlepoint:**Here is my update!, **Ivin Artemis Draconis:** Kind of funny, I update on the day that you review...

That's it!...I did it!..

Well, that's it for now.

If I missed anyone, well, ごめんなさい。　　忙しいですよ。　

Until next time, which hopefully won't be that long from now.

じゃね

Ki-chan

p.s. ｶﾞｸﾄが大好きよ

Feel free to chat with me on AIM, my name is Kibethan.


	6. Mamoru chan

**Title: **Blindsided

**By: **Kibethan

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Gravitation, then I wouldn't feel so bad about not having this chapter out sooner...

**Summary: **Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye, so his editor decides to shape him up to seem like a good guy by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by the name of Shindou Shuichi?

**Half-warning: **There's some ooc-ness in Yuki's character...I apologize, I was in a sappy mood...

**Previously on "Blindsided"**

_"And, you're apologizing to me?" Yuki asked, still in shock. He couldn't believe that that was happening._

"_Yes," Shuichi repeated for the last time, "I'm so sorry."_

**Chapter 6**

**Mamoru-chan**

When Shuichi had told Yuki that, Yuki had been in absolute shock. For minutes afterwards Yuki had his mouth hanging slack-jawed like a fish and his eyes had just been wide and unseeing. Two people that had also been admitted into the hospital walked past the two males.

"Tsk tsk," one of them murmured to the other, "I thought that they were supposed to keep the crazy ones locked up in a separate wing…" Even that rude comment fell on Yuki's deaf ears, which was probably a good thing, because if he had heard that, there would've been hell to pay.

Shuichi, not being able to see what was going on, and not hearing the comment, immediately assumed the worst. He thought that Yuki hadn't accepted his apology. His eyes clouded over and he sunk down to his knees on the floor. His empty gaze was directed down; tears filled his wide eyes.

"I guess now I know how it felt when I rejected you," Shuichi whispered quietly to himself. His tears hit the floor with small 'plops'. The sound of the tears seemed to break Yuki out of his reverie.

He shook his head from side to side, trying to clear his mind. He gave a small start when he noticed Shuichi sitting on the ground in front him, silently crying. Sighing, he figured that he ought to do something about it.

Unfortunately for him, comforting somebody had never exactly been his forte. In fact, he was usually the person that made the other person want to cry. He'd never felt the need to comfort before. Now that he was feeling it, he didn't know what to do.

Being the writer that he was, he broke up what he was looking at into parts. Shuichi was in pieces on the ground. Okay, now, if you break that up, you get two things. Shuichi was on the ground and Shuichi was crying. The first thing, at least, Yuki could try to do deal with.

Trying not to startle the distraught boy, Yuki called out to him and helped him up to his feet. Shuichi didn't really look like he understood what was going on, but at least Yuki could lead him back into his room without too much trouble.

Gently guiding Shuichi down the hallway and around the corner, Yuki opened up Shuichi's room and gave Shuichi a gentle shove inside.

Yuki then turned around and closed the door so as to get some privacy. Taking Shuichi's shoulder, he put the sat the boy onto his bed. Shuichi, feeling the reassuring comfort of his blanket immediately lay down and wrapped himself up. He turned so that he was facing away from Yuki, even though he couldn't see him.

Yuki had a feeling that Shuichi could feel when he was looking at him, so he directed his gaze elsewhere. While he was looking around the room, he spotted the teddy bear that he had given to Shuichi.

He gave a start. He certainly hadn't expected Shuichi to keep it. Yet, there it was, in all it's glory, sitting on the little bedside table, facing Shuichi. Yuki bit back a smile. So maybe Shuichi had really been sorry when he apologized to him.

His mind thought back to the day before…golly…had it only been the day before? It seemed like it had been so long ago. Only yesterday Shuichi had hated him and rejected him. Only yesterday he had sworn that he would never enter the room that he was currently in again. Only yesterday he had been in the hospital.

Wait a minute…did that mean that he would have to come back here again tomorrow?! After all, Ezaniya hadn't known that Yuki was coming in today. Yuki let out a small growl.

Shuichi heard the growl and turned towards Yuki. For the first time he seemed to be aware that he was no longer sitting out in the hospital hallway, but was actually sitting in his own little room.

Yuki, seeing that Shuichi was finally starting to be aware of his surroundings, decided to question him.

"How did you know it was me?"

Shuichi raised his head up.

"Do you forgive me?" he asked quietly. Yuki gave out a loud sigh.

"Yes, I forgive you, now, how did you know it was me?" he repeated so exasperatedly.

"You forgive me?" Shuichi asked, yet again. All Yuki wanted to do was grab Shuichi head and smack into him that he forgave him. If he hadn't, why would he have dragged Shuichi all the way back into his room instead of leaving him broken down in the hallway?

"I forgive you! Now, would you please answer my question?!"

"What question was that?" Shuichi asked, tilting his head slightly to the left. A vein in Yuki's forehead throbbed. He was starting to see red and he was just about to march out of them when he got a control on his temper. Slowly, he breathed in and out, trying to calm down.

"How did you know it was me?" he asked very slowly, as though talking to a small child.

"Oh! That's easy," Shuichi started answering; "I could tell it was you by the way you smell. Your smell is very distinct and I knew right away that it was you. That's also how I knew where you were. Just followed my nose!"

"Like a dog?" Yuki asked dryly. Shuichi just nodded childishly, not catching any of the sarcasm that was flowing off of Yuki in waves. Yuki wanted to smack his palm against his forehead, but somehow he managed not to. He was really starting to get the hang of this whole 'thinking before acting' thing. "So," he started a completely different topic, "you kept the bear I gave you…" Yuki trailed off at the bright red blush that seemingly stained Shuichi's face.

Shuichi nodded.

"Um…yes. I kept it. It was too soft not too!" he explained quickly, hoping that maybe Yuki would by it. Shuichi's eyes held what he was really thinking though.

"Uh-huh," Yuki said teasingly, "I see how it is." He smirked. Shuichi couldn't see the smirk, but he could sense it. Immediately he started on a ramble giving excuses about why he kept it.

"…and I just couldn't get rid of Mamoru-chan…" Shuichi kept going. Yuki jerked his face towards Shuichi.

"Wait…Mamoru?" he interrupted Shuichi. Once again, Shuichi blushed as he realized that he had let something slip.

"Um…yeah…Mamoru. It's his name."

"You named it?"

"Yeah, Mamoru."

"To protect?" Yuki asked sincerely. "Why?" Yet again, Shuichi was blushing and this time he was taking his reason to the grave with him, no matter how much Yuki poked and prodded, Shuichi was not going to give in.

Yuki sensed this and gave up trying to make Shuichi tell him what he was doing. Yuki was completely astonished by the 180 that had taken place in Shuichi. Like he had thought before, only yesterday the two weren't on talking terms.

What had caused Shuichi's sudden change of heart? He looked at Shuichi, the poor blushing boy had his head directed towards the floor again, and decided that the change of him getting some useful information out of him would probably be nil.

Still, though, he wondered. His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

Both Shuichi and Yuki's head snapped towards the sound. Yuki looked at Shuichi. As much as he knew, Shuichi never got any visitors. Shuichi was equally as confused.

With furrowed eyebrows, Yuki walked over to the room door and swung it open. Enter Ryuichi and K. And I mean really enter. As soon as the door had even started to open, Ryuichi had flung it open with an admonished flair. K, as always, had walked in quietly behind him.

"You!" Yuki screamed loudly. Shuichi turned towards Yuki; a questioning look was plastered all over his face. He was very lost. He didn't recognize the person's smell at all.

"Yep. It's me…" Ryuichi started.

"Oh my God!" Shuichi interrupted. Shock had replaced the questioning look. He knew **exactly** who was currently in the room with him. "Sakuma Ryuichi, Sakuma Ryuichi, Sakuma Ryuichi…" he repeated over and over. He was taking in very deep breaths very fast. Then he screamed.

Loud.

Really loud.

Yuki and K covered their ears. Ryuichi just stood there, as though he was used to it. Which, of course, he was; fan girls were always screaming after him. Carefully, Yuki uncovered his ears.

Shuichi started rapidly talking about how much he loved Nittle Grasper and how he could die happy now that Ryuichi was in the room with him.

Frankly, Yuki wondered why Shuichi was thinking about dying, but he didn't think too much about it, worrying only about that fact that Shuichi probably wasn't getting as much air as he should have been. Shuichi's face started turning purple…but he didn't stop talking.

Yuki was almost even more preoccupied with, though, why Ryuichi and K were in the room with Shuichi and himself. His mind couldn't come up with any reason except some strange, strange coincidence. And even that seemed highly implausible.

And, yet again, he was still wondering why Shuichi was so happy and not the angry person he had been just a single day before.

Just then, Ryuichi spotted the teddy bear. Of course, he recognized it right away. He joined Shuichi and was freaking out.

"Ohmygosh!! This is the person that you gave the teddy bear too?! So cute! So cute! So cute!! I knew that I did the right thing when I helped you!" Ryuichi was talking just as rapidly as Shuichi currently was.

Before long Yuki and K had two people who looked exactly the same and talked exactly the same doing the exact same thing.

Meh.

Ignoring them, Yuki decided to ask the levelheaded person, K, why they were here. K admitted without much hesitation that Ryuichi had been curious as to what Yuki had done with the teddy bear and had enlisted K's help in tracking him down.

Yuki now knew what the eyes he thought he'd felt on his back had been. It made a lot more sense now that he knew that. Yuki and K were engrossed in their little conversation when they heard two thumps and Ryuichi and Shuichi's banter was cut off.

Confused, they turned towards their two comrades. They're eyes went wide when they saw that both Shuichi and Ryuichi were passed out. Shuichi was on his bed and Ryuichi was on the floor.

Ryuichi and Shuichi had passed out from hyperventilation.

"Damn," K said, "Ryuichi passed out from hyperventilation again, and he apparently taught Shuichi how to too…"

**End Chapter 6**

Well, at least this chapter didn't take me quite as long to get through...I actually managed to finish it in...a little over two weeks. The next one will be out sooner, I promise! I actually have a plotline coming up in my mind; one that will work with what I've already gotten in here. By the way, this bloody chapter was done yesterday, but as soon as I went to post...BAH!...fanfiction stopped working...

Anyways, onto a review of reviews:

**Syaoran is kawaii:** "Sun, go away in Austrailia...", **tokyo kitsune:** I'm glad that you're looking forward to the next chapter, **Korogi-chan:** You shall see, more will happen, **Miserable Midori:** Always, always, **Crazi 4 Grasper:** I swear, I try to update faster, **Bakura:** Kids are awesome...usually..., **drive to insanity:** here's more, and there shall be even more soon,** DarrkKatt:** Yay! I like it when people write stories, **CassiToTheStars:** Nothing wrong with fangirls..., **Topaz:** there will be more on Shuichi's past later, **Bram:** I try, I really do, **Shuuichi-chan:** Are you reading it in portuguese?, **Elements:** Awesome, awesome, awesome reviews...as usual, **Megamie:** More surprises on the way, **WhiteLightning:** WooHoo! I'm addicting!, **Kitsune Thief:**Nobody suspects the teddy bear..., **Dana:** We shall find out later..., **Mizuky-chan:** this was as soon as I could..., **xxPetalsAndThorns9xx:** I try, I really do...I try to keep it interesting, **Kloudy Reignfall:** Hurray! I'm gladyou like!, **IvanArtemis Draconis:** Thank you...Ineed all the luck I can get...:clasps hands together: please let the microphone work tomorrow..., **Falcon Zanbandia of Nightmares:** I'm glad you like!, **goku-the-saru:** ready...きょうはきみのうちにいきます。 The non-usage of kanji was on purpose...man, that's hard to read...needs kanji!!!...damn...今日は君の家に行きます。 I couldn't help it..., **Johnny-Depp-Luv:** I'm glad you love it!, **clari chan:** me too, me too, **Kolie:** Yes...how did he know..., **YuroKokoro:** Well, I try to be as original as possible, **Princess of Mirrors:** Yay! I guess it means I'm halfway decent!!!

WooHoo!! That was the most reviews I've ever gotten in one chapter before. I think that the grand total (for the chapter) was 32!! So happy!!

OH!!! I got accepted to Western Washington University on Monday!!!! SO HAPPY!!! Come this fall, I'll actually have somewhere to go...on the other hand, I saw first hand today what a Geology major has to do to get their Bachelor of Science degree at Central Washington University...and now I'm scared...

Anyway, here's the deal: I update, you review. Got it? It's easy!

And feel free to chat...my aim name is Kibethan, my livejournal is Kibethan, my msn name is Kibethan at msn dot com...see a pattern?

Oh...and I apologize for spelling errors...


	7. Unknown Tears

**Title: **Blindsided

**By: **Kibethan

**Disclaimer: **I do say that I believe that I do not own Gravitation, as much as I wish that I do...and trust me, I really wish that I do...

**Summary: **Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye, so his editor decides to shape him up to seem like a good guy by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by the name of Shindou Shuichi?

**Half-warning: **Well, theoretically, this doesn't need to be here...but I've gotten so used to writing one, I'm writing one to warn you that this doesn't need a warning...meh...

**Chapter 7**

**Unknown Tears**

Yuki sat at his computer, just staring at the screen. His fingers weren't moving; no words showed up on the computer screen even though his hands were on the keyboard. He was currently not really all "there" in his mind. Simply put, he was out of it; his mind currently on exactly what had happened after Shuichi and Ryuichi had passed out.

It had been a strange occurrence, especially since it had happened to two people at the exact same time. K and Yuki for the longest time had just stared at the two of them, not really sure what they should do.

Eventually, the doctor had come in and promptly freaked out that there were two unconscious beings in his hospital and why, oh why hadn't Yuki and K called for help?

They just shrugged.

The doctor kicked them out, but made them stay nearby. He was going to have their heads if anything serious had happened to the two that were in la-la land.

Once again, Yuki and K had just stood outside, not really doing anything. The doctor had, after about an hour had passed, called them back inside. Shuichi and Ryuichi were once again conscious and they were talking animatedly to each other.

Strangely, Yuki had felt relieved when he saw Shuichi sitting up and smiling. Lord knows that that didn't happen very often. Perhaps it would start happening more and more now though?

Shuichi had smelled Yuki enter and turned towards him, a wide smile evident on his face.

"It's Ryuichi Sakuma! He's here! He actually came here!" Shuichi had been all smiles for the rest of them time that Yuki had been in there, right up to the point when Yuki had told him that he needed to leave.

When Yuki had told him that, Shuichi's eyes had immediately went big and began to fill up with tears. To be truthful, it had made Yuki more than a little bit uncomfortable. After Yuki had told Shuichi that he would be coming back, though, Shuichi's face had broken out into a grin that just radiated happiness.

Yuki, still at his computer, began tomove his fingers. Words began to fill up the page, gracefully. For the first time in a while, he was having the ability to write without writer's block.

An alarm sounded. Yuki swore colorfully. The alarm was set so that he would know when he had to leave to go to the hospital. After all, he was back on his schedule of every other day, and theoretically, he wasn't supposed to have gone yesterday.

Curse Shuichi for keeping him there longer than he had to be! And curse that bloody alarm for going off! He had finally gotten his flow of the words back! How dare the alarm stop him right when he was on a roll! How dare it make him go to the hospital?

Yuki stopped typing and fumed at the alarm for about five minutes before standing up. If he didn't leave now, he was going to be late getting to the hospital, and Ezaniya had made it clear on the first day that if he was late…well…there would be hell to pay.

Yuki hadn't really been able to sleep the night before, so he had gotten up extra early to try and work on his story, which is why he had been at his computer in the first place.

He opened the door to his apartment and made his way towards the hospital. It was still relatively early in the day and the people were just beginning to exit their houses and start to mill about.

Yuki entered the hospital, nodded a greeting to the head nurse, and headed upstairs to check in with Ezaniya about what he was supposed to be doing today.

"You're late," Yuki heard the second he walked in the door. He stopped short. That was not a good way to start the volunteering hours. He glanced at the silver watch that adorned his wrist.

"By barely five minutes!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air to emphasize the point. Ezaniya appeared to not be persuaded, but at the last second nodded and decided to just give Yuki a warning. If he were late again…well…then there would be hell to pay. What hell, exactly, he hadn't decided yet…but it would be hell.

Yuki started to walk out the door when Ezaniya called him back.

"What happened to Shuichi?"Ezaniya asked. Yuki was confused. Had something happened to Shuichi that he didn't know about?

"What do you mean?" he asked.

Ezaniya explained that Shuichi had seemed to be extremely happy and he was wondering what had happened to cause such a response from the normally stoic boy. Yuki shrugged and left the room, moving towards the kid's playroom.

Boy, were they ever happy to see him. Even though it had only been a day, to them it seemed like it had been, like, years. Years had passed by in their eyes. Needless to say, they were very excited when they saw Yuki enter.

One of the little girls ran up to him and wrapped her small arms around his legs, a puzzle piece clasped in her hand. She looked up into his face, pleading, in the little kid way, to please, please, please finish the puzzle with him.

How could he resist? It was the puppy face. Evil biker dudes can't resist the puppy face, so of course he wouldn't be able to. He allowed himself to be led over to where she was doing the puzzle. It was a different one from last time, and, thankfully, this one was easier than the other had been.

That wasn't saying much, though, because it still took them quite a long time to finish the puzzle. It didn't help that as soon as they **had** finished it, the little girl ran and got yet another puzzle for them to do.

And once again, Yuki couldn't say no. Unfortunately, the second puzzle was quite a bit more difficult than the first one had been, and he was stuck forever trying to figure out which pieces to piece together. What in the world was a kid's playroom doing with such a complex puzzle? It was frustrating Yuki, for sure it was frustrating the kid too.

Well, it was evident that she was frustrated; her face was scrunched up, but she was determined to finish the damned puzzle, as Yuki was now referring to it as. Eventually, after what seemed like hours, but in fact had been, well, hours, they finished it.

The two of them looked at it with awe in their faces. They hadn't expected it to be so pretty when it was finished. Yuki glanced at his watch and his eyes widened. It was almost 3 o'clock. He had promised Shuichi that he would visit him today.

Before the little girl could get up and get another puzzle (which it looked like she was about to do), Yuki politely told her that he had had fun, and that now he was going to go and visit somebody in a different room.

Her eyes had went wide her eyes had started to fill up with tears again, but Yuki managed to turn away before he had been caught in the full grasp of the puppy dog face. Yelling a quick goodbye to the rest of the kids, he exited the room and walked towards Shuichi's.

As he got closer and closer, he began to hear angry noises coming from inside. The closer he got, the louder they became. At first, he wasn't sure where they were coming from, but it became evident as he moved closer. He started walking faster, trying to figure out **why** those noises where coming from there.

It just didn't make any sense. Why would Shuichi be angry?

He opened Shuichi's door. Inside was a sight that he never thought that he would see. Shuichi was sitting on top of bed and punching his pillow to death. He was aiming to kill that pillow. Yuki didn't want to know what the pillow had down to deserve such a fate, but he was sure damned glad that he wasn't the subject of Shuichi's wrath right then.

He never wanted to face this wrath ever. It was scary. Shuichi's face was turning red, and there were tear tracks down Shuichi's face. His eyes were filled with tears that were just waiting to be shed.

Quite obviously something, or someone, had really ticked him off. Shuichi was so distracted with mauling his pillow, that he didn't even notice that Yuki had entered the room.

Yuki was surprised that Shuichi was so mad. He ran over to where Shuichi was and grabbed the pillow away from him. He swore that he could hear the pillow muttering a word of thanks.

Yuki started talking to Shuichi, trying to call him down, but there was no evidence to support that Shuichi recognized who was in the room with him right then. Yuki was so afraid that he was back at square one again with Shuichi. They had been finally starting to make some progress and Shuichi was getting better. But now, well, **something** had happened.

Yuki was determined to find out what it was. Yet, Shuichi wasn't recognizing him at all. Yuki was at a loss for what to do. He could smile, but that wouldn't help Shuichi. He could run and get Ezaniya, but he certainly didn't want to do that. He was a little bit confused as to why there were no nurses coming in when one of their patients was so clearly distressed.

But then again, when had they ever come in. They only seemed to be really worried when one of their patients was unconscious.

Go figure.

Yuki groaned. Between the puzzle and this, he was full of frustration. At least he had managed to finish the jigsaw puzzle, now he was trying to figure out the puzzle that was Shuichi. It was not an easy task, that's for sure.

Shuichi was just sitting there on the bed. He was silent, his arms hung limply at his sides since Yuki had taken the pillow away from him.

Yuki tried over and over to get Shuichi to respond to him, but nothing was working. He gave a loud, annoyed sigh and left the room. He didn't even bother saying goodbye to Shuichi.

He would return though, for some strange reason, he **always** returned. It baffled even him.

As he left, unbeknownst to him, a single tear ran down Shuichi's face, followed by another and another. Shuichi grabbed Mamoru-chan and sobbed into him.

* * *

Yuki walked into Ezaniya's office without knocking. Ezaniya was talking on the phone, but one look at Yuki's face and Ezaniya told the person he was talking to that he would call them back. 

"What's going on?" Ezaniya asked, as he laid the phone into its cradle.

"Did Shuichi have any visitors today?" Yuki asked him, leaning against the doorframe.

"Besides you?"

"Yeah, besides me."

"No," Ezaniya started. "Why?"

Yuki proceeded to tell him of what had just happened with Shuichi. Concern was written all over Ezaniya's face after Yuki had told him the complete story of Shuichi's episode, but he didn't make any moves to do something about it. He did resolve, though, to keep closer watch on who was going into Shuichi's room.

All of a sudden, a completely random thought made it's way through Yuki's brain.

"Is Shuichi allowed to go outside?" he asked Ezaniya; he was really, really curious whether Shuichi was allowed to or not. Ezaniya gave him a weird look.

"Yeah, he's allowed as long as he has somebody with him, but he never goes outside. Why?"

Yuki grinned, a gleam shining brightly in his eye. He had finally figured out a way to try to shake Shuichi out his depressive state.

"I'm thinking he needs to get a little fresh air…"

**End Chapter 7**

Wow, it's been...a while since I've updated this. To be honest, I had horrible writer's block...but isn't that always the way? Don't worry, I'm thinking that the next chapter will be up relatively soon, since I'm very much considering writing it tonight...

Since I have nothing to say, A review of reviews is in order:

**WhiteLightning:** Yay! I'm glad that you thought that it was funny! That makes he happy,** clari chan:** Will do, will do, **Ruby631:** Trust me...I was a teddy bear like that too, **Shuuichi-chan:** I'm so glad that you like it! I'm glad you think it's kawaii, **goku-the-saru:** We definitely need to play Mario Party more often..., **Shirubaa Kitsune:** Yes, it is getting good, and it will get better, **Sailor Epyon:** Thank you! I got accepted to the University of Oregon too, so now I have a choice, **Lily Avalon:** I meant to say that he recognized Ryuichi from his voice...sorry if it came off as different, **Mizuky-chan:** Yes, the teddy bear was named that for a reason, **Dark Mimiru-chan:** The angst will come back, the angst will come back, **WhiteTopaz:** The stuff on his past is coming up...eventually, I promise, **ichigo-chan:** I'll try to update faster, I promise, **xxPetalsAndThorns9xx:** Man, I just caught a cold today..., **Ivin Artemis Draconis:** Yay! I like it when people laugh, **Crazi4Grasper:** Hahahaha...updating faster, now :that's: funny...I'm gonna try though (that's what's really going to be funny...), **Syaoran is kawaii:** Live Action Sailor Moon Mamoru...:drools:..., **Staryday:** Another chapter, relatively soon, I promise, **Kimika:** :puts hand behind head, nervous laughter:...a...hahahaha...hahah, **Elements:** Hurray!A review from you! I alwaysenjoy those, **Soralover1:** They are adorable, aren't they, **Kloudy Reignfall:** Everything happens! That's my story, **CrazyTR:** Hurray! A AU story that you like, **DarrkKatt:** Boy, do I ever feel sorry for you..., **Bram:** I'm glad that you like getting replied to! That's why I do it! Because I :always: loved it when people replied to mine, **Notta-chan:** Thanks!...and man...being a geology major would be so hard...but I love rocks, **DEE:** Did you take this name from FAKE perhaps :nudge nudge:...I love FAKE, **Tokyo kitsune:** Thanks, I'm going to need it..., **Falcon Zanbandia of Nightmares:** hehehe...K is my favorite character, **tammy:** you shall see what happens next...it will be exciting, **Sakura Minamino:** No, I can see where they might call him "Yuki-sensei"...but I didn't think of that when I was writing it..., **XmakeXmeXfeelX:** I'm glad! It's what I try to do, **Tasukis Devil:**You're lucky, you didn't have to waitverylong...

That's it! Wow...:looks up:...that's a lot. I just felt like I should write things to people andmake them a little bitlonger because it's been so longsince I updated...

I'm sorry if I forgot anybody...but I'm pretty sure I didn't...

Oh! I finally saw the last Disc of Gravitation today! I almost started crying because it was over...

PLEASE REVIEW:down on hands and knees begging:

Okay, until next time, PEACE, and remember...Gackt loves you...You loves you too...

Ki-chan


	8. It's Been So Long!

**Title: **Blindsided

**By: **Heather...ACK...I mean Kibethan!

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Gravitation I would be a very happy person! As it happens...hmm...I am a very happy person! But not because I own Gravitation, because I don't!

**Summary: **Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye, so his editor decides to shape him up to seem like a good guy by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by the name of Shindou Shuichi?

**Half-warning: **I'm warning you here...there's some swearing in this chapter...even though you might not be able to actually spot it because it's so minimal...

**Chapter 8**

**It's been so long!**

With a skip in his step Yuki skipped towards the hospital. The sun was shining beautiful and there was nary a cloud in the sky. The weather was still a bit chilly, but that was quickly overshadowed by how gorgeous the day was looking to be.

It was the day that Yuki was going to force Shuichi out of his shell and into the real world. It was the day that Yuki introduced real food back to Shuichi, not the crap that they serve at the hospital. It was the day that Yuki took Shuichi to the park and pushed him on the swings, telling him to hold on tight so he wouldn't fall off. It was the day that Yuki described to Shuichi all of the things that were around him.

Sure, it sounded like a date, but Yuki didn't care. The weather was reflecting his mood and right then all he wanted to do was dance.

He could only hope that Shuichi wouldn't hate him in the end.

He entered the hospital and quickly sprinted up to the floor that Shuichi's room was on. He didn't even bother checking in with Ezaniya; he had told him two days ago that he would be taking Shuichi out.

Only two days ago some unknown thing in the hospital room had freaked out ago Shuichi. And here Yuki was, two days later, ready to use any means necessary to pry the information out of Shuichi.

Sure, the real reason for getting Shuichi out of the hospital was to get him…well…out of the hospital. He had been cooped up in there for way too long and needed to get a big of fresh scenery. However, Yuki did have an ulterior motive. He was determined to find out when Shuichi had been so depressed.

He would leave Shuichi somewhere by himself if he wouldn't tell him what happened. Okay, maybe that was a little bit harsh; he wouldn't actually do that. He would threaten to though; he would threaten through the tears that he knew would probably come onto Shuichi's face.

He reached Shuichi's room and threw the door open. It shocked Yuki to see that Shuichi was still sitting in the exact same place that he had been two days ago, in the exact same position. The only difference between then and now was the fact that now Shuichi was holding Mamoru, who was wet from the tears that had fallen onto him.

Carefully, Yuki walked across the room and gently lifted Mamoru out of Shuichi's grasp. Shuichi whipped his head to face Yuki, giving Yuki a stare that was making him feel guilty. He continued to pry Mamoru out of Shuichi's grip.

"No," Shuichi said quietly, refusing to release his grip on the bear. Yuki was afraid that if he tried any hard, Mamoru would tear. He certainly didn't want that to happen; he had spent forever trying to find that bear and Shuichi would probably kill him.

Rather reluctantly, Yuki let go of Mamoru and let Shuichi continue to hold him. Somehow, he needed to get Shuichi out of the bed. Being the rather blunt person that he is, he grabbed Shuichi's arm and dragged him out of bed.

Shuichi fell unceremoniously to the ground. The only thing that was in the air was the arm that Yuki was still holding. Yuki gave a loud drawn out sigh and tried to lift Shuichi up.

"Come on," he urged, pulling the pink-haired boy up. Shuichi kept all his weight on the floor, giving Yuki a hell of a time trying to pull him up. It was working. Sure Shuichi didn't weigh that much, but right then he felt like he weighed a ton. "Come on," Yuki tried again. He really wanted to go outside and didn't want Shuichi to miss the beautiful day that was forming.

If they waited too long it would be over.

"Why?" Shuichi whispered so quietly that Yuki almost didn't hear him. "Why are you grabbing me?" Yuki face-faulted. He forgot that he hadn't explained to Shuichi what he wanted to do.

"Oh! I'm going to take you outside!"

Shuichi's eyes went wide, first with shock, and then with fear. He started shaking and saying "no" over and over. Yuki couldn't figure out why.

"What's wrong? I promise you'll have fun."

"But," Shuichi countered, "what if I get abandoned or lost?"

There went Yuki's plans to threaten to abandon him if he wouldn't tell him what had happened two days ago.

"You won't. I promise I'll protect you." Uh-oh. There, he'd said it, the "p" word. No, no. Not promise. Protect. It was the same thing that Shuichi had named the teddy bear. It started with Yuki just protecting Shuichi while they went for a walk. But where would it end! Would Yuki eventually become so protective of Shuichi that he would be offering to let Shuichi live in his home, his home that he would have to make safe for a blind person?

He could only hope that it wouldn't come to that.

Shuichi's eyes widened slightly. Yuki could only guess what was going through his mind. Maybe, maybe he'd relent and come outside with Yuk—

"No."

Or maybe it was going to take just a wee bit more persuasion on Yuki's part. He was hoping that he wouldn't have to resort to this.

"Please, please, please, please, please, please, please," Yuki started. And kept going, and going, and going. He was not going to give up. Eventually either he would pass out from the lack of oxygen going to his brain, or Shuichi would give in and come outside with him.

He hated resorting to such tactics. Especially when, at the moment, it looked like Shuichi was going to win. Little black spots started to dance in front of his eyes. If Shuichi didn't give in soon, Yuki was going to end up on the floor, just like Shuichi had been a couple of days ago.

Yet, Shuichi didn't give in. Yuki felt his mind grow foggier as it felt like he was being thrown farther and farther away from his body. The black spot became complete blackness as he felt his legs give out from underneath him.

He was out before he hit the ground; his last thought being, "My God, I'm so lame that I passed out trying to get Shuichi to come outside."

* * *

Yuki started waking up to the sound of someone calling something. It certainly wasn't his name, but it sounded like the person was trying to get his attention. 

Why weren't they just calling his name? Wouldn't it be easier if they called "Yuki" instead of "person"? What was going on?

Someone was shaking his body, trying to wake him up. He was so comfortable on the floor though, the coolness was seeping into his skin and it felt really nice.

"Person! Person who gave me the bear! Please wake up!" Yuki heard again. Well, someone was trying his or her hardest to get Yuki to wake up, but Yuki was having none of it. He was perfectly content on the floor. "Please wake up!" the voice pleaded with him again.

Curses, why wouldn't it just let him rest? Hadn't they ever heard of the expression "let a sleeping dog lie"? Sure, Yuki wasn't referring to himself as a dog, but couldn't the same expression be applied to people too?

But the person wouldn't give up; they were relentless and just would not stop. The shaking on his shoulder was progressively becoming stronger and stronger; it was beginning to shake his whole body.

Whoever was shaking him was quite strong. A groan escaped from his lips. The person shaking him and calling him started shaking and calling him faster. He wrenched his eyes open.

"Would you stop? My name is Yuki!" he yelled at the person. Shuichi reeled back in surprise.

"I'm sorry," he said meekly. "You wouldn't wake up," he explained. Yuki looked at Shuichi in surprise. Sure, now it clicked that if anybody would be trying to wake him up it would be Shuichi, but before it had seemed like Shuichi would be the last person to want to wake him up. Shuichi gave no indication that he had heard Yuki give him his name. But at the moment Yuki didn't care and didn't bother trying to get Shuichi to memorize his name.

He shook his head clear and sat up.

"Will you come with me outside?" he tried again. Maybe the guilt would be on Shuichi's conscious that he had made somebody pass out. It was the only hope that Yuki had. "I promise that I'll protect you." There was that bloody

word again. It seemed to be started to slip easily past his mouth unchecked. He was going to have to start watching what he said, or soon he would say something he regretted. And he definitely didn't want that to happen.

"I'll go," Shuichi said quietly. Yuki almost didn't hear it, except he had been waiting to hear those words forever and now he was finally hearing them. With a whoop he stood up quickly and grabbed Shuichi's hand. They were going outside. "Wait!" Shuichi protested. "I need to get changed!" For the first time Yuki noticed the garb that Shuichi was dressed in. With a small blush on his face Yuki let go of Shuichi's hand and let him get into some clothes that weren't in the pajama family.

* * *

Ten minutes had passed. How long did it take for somebody to get dressed? Yuki was sitting on the bed tapping his finger on the blanket. Any second Shuichi would enter the room all dressed and ready to go. Yep. Any second now…any second now. 

Where the hell was he? This was worse than waiting for a girl getting ready for a date. The tapping of his fingers sped up, as he got more and more impatient. If Shuichi wasn't out in about thirty seconds he was going to rip into the bathroom and drag Shuichi out, whether he was dressed or not.

One.

Shuichi still wasn't there.

Two.

Nope, still not there, what was taking so long?

Ten.

My goodness, Shuichi was more like a girl than he thought.

Fifteen.

Time for Shuichi was counting down.

Twenty.

Ten more seconds, and Yuki was **so** going to go into the bathroom.

Twenty-four.

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

Twenty-nine.

_Well, that's it,_ Yuki thought, _I'm going into the bathroom._

Thirty.

The door opened and in walked Shuichi, just as Yuki was starting to stand up. Yuki lost his balance at seeing the person that he was just going to get and fell back onto the bed. Shuichi heard the sound and cocked his head.

"What happened?" he asked. A small blush tinted Yuki's face and he was quite happy that Shuichi couldn't see him.

"Nothing," he quickly explained. "I just lost my balance."

"Oh. Okay!" Shuichi sent a bright smile in Yuki's direction. Yuki started to head out the door. He was almost all the way down the hall when he noticed that Shuichi wasn't following him. He slapped his palm against his head.

He had made a tactical error. He walked back into the hospital room. Grabbing Shuichi's hand he yanked Shuichi off balance and out the door before Shuichi had any time to protest.

Still holding Shuichi's hand, Yuki led him to the elevator. Shuichi gave a start when he felt Yuki yank Shuichi into the little box. Yuki had a feeling that Shuichi wouldn't ever get used to the initial pull. Shuichi stiffened when he felt the elevator begin its descent down. He was so lock-kneed that when the elevator stopped, he was jolted and he lost his balance. He quickly recovered it though, but he wasn't prepared to feel Yuki yank his out of the elevator after he heard the "ding" of the elevator doors open.

He completely lost his balance and fell right into Yuki who, in turn, lost his balance and fell onto the floor. Just like dominoes they fell with Shuichi landing right on top of Yuki. Of course they had to be in the lobby of the hospital and the lobby just **had** to be full of people.

Shuichi sprawled out on top of Yuki presented quite an eyeful to the people who had turned their heads to see what the loud "thump" had been when the two had fallen.

Oh yeah, big time embarrassing. As gracefully as he could, Yuki shoved Shuichi off of him and picked himself up and then he reached down and grabbed Shuichi's hand. Shuichi was very disoriented and he had no idea where he was supposed to be going.

"Man, those two need a room," Yuki heard. The evidence was there that Shuichi had heard it too, because his face was blushing bright red. Feeling sorry for the boy, Yuki gave a gently pull and led him out of the hospital. Shuichi stopped dead as soon as he felt the sun on his face.

Sure, it was quite nippy out, but nothing could replace the special thing that happened when you felt the sun on your face, especially if you haven't felt the direct sunlight on your face in months.

Yuki watched as Shuichi basked in the glow. While watching Shuichi stand in the sun was fun, if they didn't get moving then they wouldn't get to do any of the things that Yuki had planned to do. And Yuki had plans to do so many things.

Yuki grabbed Shuichi and dragged him, by the hand, towards the park. As was mentioned before, it was a beautiful day out and Yuki would be damned if he let it go to waste.

There was a change in Shuichi's step when he went from walking on concrete, to walking on woodchips and he almost lost his balance for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. But he regained it quickly, thankfully.

Yuki led Shuichi until he came to the spot that he had been heading to.

"Shuichi, sit down." Shuichi furrowed his eyebrows, confused. If he sat down wouldn't he fall onto the ground? Would Yuki pull an evil trick like that?

Well, the old Yuki might have, but the new –and slightly improved- Yuki wouldn't do something like that.

Yuki watched the mental battle in Shuichi's eyes as he decided whether he should trust Yuki or not. Biting his lip, Shuichi decided to take the plunge and he sat down, slowly. He was surprised when his bottom was met with something that seemed to fit up right next to him.

Yuki led the hand he was holding to one of the metal chains holding the swing up.

"Grab this," he told Shuichi. For once Shuichi actually did something that Yuki asked right away. Yuki grabbed his other hand and led it to the chain on the other side. "Hold on tight," he said warningly.

Very gently he gave Shuichi a slight push. Shuichi, once again, stiffened when he felt the swing move. Eventually he relaxed and even started to pump his legs with the rhythm, forcing the swing to move higher and higher.

Shuichi giggled. He hadn't felt the wind in the hair for so long and here he was feeling it over and over as he swung back and forth. Yuki just sat on a swing next to Shuichi, watching as Shuichi had the time of his life. A rare smile graced his lips.

Shuichi looked so happy and Yuki couldn't help but be happy in return.

Shuichi just swung and swung and swung never once stopping. An hour passed and Shuichi was still swinging. Yuki didn't want to stop him though, because it was obvious that he was having so much fun.

Wait a minute; if he was having so much fun, wouldn't this be the perfect time to ask what had happened two days ago?

"Shuichi!" he called as Shuichi passed by him.

"What?" Shuichi yelled back to him.

"What happened two days ago? Why were you so upset?" Yuki did not the answer that he was looking for.

"It's a se-cr-et!" Shuichi yelled back, a big grin on his face. That was possibly the last thing that Yuki had expected him to say, but the more that Yuki tried to pry the information out of Shuichi, the more adamant Shuichi seemed to become against telling Yuki what had happened.

It was very obvious that Yuki was getting absolutely nowhere, but that didn't stop him from trying to get an answer.

In fact, the only reason that he stopped asking why was because his stomach growled, loudly. Shuichi heard it and dug his heels into the ground to stop himself.

"Are you hungry, Yuki?" Shuichi asked, using the name that Yuki had been sure that Shuichi hadn't heard him tell him. Yuki nodded, then felt foolish when he realized that Shuichi couldn't see him.

"Yes," he said aloud, "let's go get some food."

"Okay."

Shuichi hopped off the swings then raised his hand up for Yuki to take. Yuki grabbed it and then led Shuichi to his favorite restaurant.

The person who seats people sat them and told them that their waiter would be there in a minute to take their orders. Since Shuichi obviously couldn't read the menu, Yuki asked him what kind of food that he liked.

He answered with he didn't know. Yuki gave out another sigh and when the waiter came just ordered the same that he was getting for Shuichi.

A gleam lit up in the waiter's eye.

"Oh! I just love it when couples order the same thing! It's so cute!" Yuki sputtered on the glass of water that he had just been trying to take a sip of.

"Oh," he quickly tried to correct, "we're not a couple."

"I see how it is," the waiter said, "you're afraid to admit that you love him in public." The waiter turned to Shuichi, "Ditch the dude, he doesn't love you."

Shuichi cocked a head. He had no idea what was going on, but Yuki thought that it was probably better that way.

Yuki gave the waiter a glare and he "eeped" and ran away to give their order to the kitchen. The only other time that they saw that waiter was when he brought their food and again when he brought their bill.

Shuichi took a big bite of his food and got really starry-eyed. For the past few months the only food that he'd eaten was the hospital food, if you could even call that food. He ate the food really slowly, enjoying every single bite. And he was really into it.

While this was a good thing for Shuichi, it was rather boring for Yuki because he had nobody to talk to. But he didn't mind **too** much, because seeing the look of ecstasy on Shuichi's face was enough to make it at least a boring that was relatively bearable.

Yuki paid for the food and then rather reluctantly took Shuichi back to the hospital with a promise that someday he would take him back out again.

Shuichi didn't want to go back, but he realized that he had to whether he wanted to or not.

As Yuki was leaving Shuichi's room to go home he heard Shuichi shout out rather quietly, "Thank you."

**End Chapter 8**

Wow...that's the fastest I've EVER gotten a chapter of Blindsided out. Five days! A new record! Maybe next time I'll be even faster!...hahaha...yeah right. I swear if that fly doesn't spot buzzing around me...

Man, this is lame, I've got nothing to say! So I'll do a review of reviews!

**Dark Mimiru-chan:** It'll come back, eventually, it'll come back, soon..., **Shuuichi-chan:** Meh, this chapter was longer than the last one..., **Soralover1:** WOOHOO! SATOSHI IS MINE, **Johnny-Depp Luv:** The angst will come back...it'll be back, don't worry, **Sailor Epyon:** O.O...Dir en Grey is scary...but cool, **clari chan:** I promise that eventually that will come in...soon..., **DarkMetalAngel of Destruction:** I hope you like this chapter, **Syaoran is kawaii:** Yep the pillow is alright, and Gackt and You both love you...Ren does too...as does Masa..., **Anna Sartin:** hehehe...I'm glad that you like it, **Shado-fyre:** And as of now...you should still be curious, **WhiteTopaz:** Sadly enough, this is asap..., **ichigo-chan:** Yay! I'm glad that you like it, **Kitsune Thief:** This is weird...a lot of people seem to feel sorry for the pillow..., **Ookami and Kitsune:** Yeah, you're right, she did have a point...I'll try and keep it in mind, **Ruby631:** yeah, sugar, that's definitely what Shuichi needs..., **Cheley:** Hurray! I'm glad you like it, **Oompalicious:** Yep! This is Yuki, **goku-the-saru:** Katie! For shame! Do you use that mouth to talk to the kids, **Shirubaa Kitsune:** Where are you that's it's 3 a.m.? I saw when I got that review and it was only, like, 11 here..., **Grimy Grunhilda Grunt:** For shame! You must review! I crave the reviews! ..., **Wilson:** OO...pika pika..., **Aizawa Sakura:** My dear, I never laugh at bad grammar seeing as how many people I've talked to that have bad grammar...a lot of my friends aren't english as a first language people..., **PyrokineticFeral:** That is such an awesome name...and I'm glad you like my story, **Tokyo kitsune:** I hope that this chapter was up to your standards..., **Wish:** And more you shall have, **Bram:** Yay! I'm glad that somebody is seeing my foreshadowing, **Elements:** Well, wind is crazy...but like that bothers me! Seeing a review from you always puts a smile on my face, **NeedlePoint:** ACK! My fingers hurt from how fast I typed, **Ivin Artemis Draconis:** Yep...Gackt likes us all! And man...he's insane!

That's it! My hands are starting to get really tired from typing...

If you're ever bored...I'm always on-line...my AIM name is **Kibethan**, my msn name is **Kibethan** at msn dot com, my livejournal is **Kibethan**, my neopets is...**holidaycookie**! Woo-hoo! Not Kibethan, because I hadn't read the book yet!

That's it for now! Remember! Gackt loves you! You loves you too! (Do any of you know who You is?)

Ki-chan!


	9. Practice

**Title: **Blindsided

**By: **Ki-chan! Kibethan! Blueberry!

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Okay, so I do own SOME stuff, but nothing that involves the rights to Gravitation, as much as I want them. Oh, I should probably mention that I don't own Harry Potter either...

**Summary: **Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye, so his editor decides to shape him up to seem like a good guy by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by the name of Shindou Shuichi?

**Half-warning: **Ya' know...I'm trying to figure out exactly why I made this story PG-13...or rather...T as it says now...maybe something will happen later.

**Previously, on Blindsided:**

_Yuki paid for the food and then rather reluctantly took Shuichi back to the hospital with a promise that someday he would take him back out again._

_Shuichi didn't want to go back, but he realized that he had to whether he wanted to or not._

_As Yuki was leaving Shuichi's room to go home he heard Shuichi shout out rather quietly, "Thank you."_

**Chapter 9**

**Practice**

They were staring at him. In fact, _all_ of them were staring at him. Their little beady eyes were boring into him; their faces were all scrunched into frowns. Not one part of their bodies displayed anything but anger. Even their little arms were crossed across their chests in a sort of stance that a mother might take when about to scold a child.

Only in this case, it was sort of the other way around.

A vein in Yuki's forehead throbbed. He had walked into the pediatrics ward with his usual grimace set on his face –but really he was smiling inside- when he had to stop short by the block at the door from all the angry children. Hell, even kids that must've been new to the pediatrics ward because he had never seen them before where glaring at him, following the lead of all the other kids.

Yuki mentally slapped himself. He had known that there was a chance that the kids would be angry with him for not showing two days prior and instead going out with Shuichi all day. The thought had even crossed his mind that morning and he had briefly considered bringing along something that would get him forgiveness quick.

He hadn't brought anything though, mentally convincing himself that the kids would be in a good mood, or that **maybe** they would forget about him not coming and visiting. In fact, he was still trying to convince himself that all the kids were just a figment of his imagination.

He stood there with his eyes closed, mentally counting away the second until he would open his eyes and the kids would be gone.

Ten…

Nine…

Eight…

Seven…

Six…

Five…

Four…

Three…

Two…

One…

Yuki opened his eyes. Damn. They were still there, glaring at him. He closed and opened his eyes again and again, trying to make the kids disappear. It wasn't working and every time he opened his eyes the looks that the kids were giving him kept getting weirder and weirder.

A couple of them even started backing away. Finally, Yuki kept his eyes open and just stared at them. He shook his head to clear his mind and opened his mouth to speak.

"Shut up! We don't want to hear it," one of the older kids yelled. The other kids started yelling too, trying to be like the older kids. Yuki figured that they actually had no idea why they were yelling.

Yuki tried over and over to get the kids to listen to him, to understand that he hadn't abandoned them on _purpose_, but had wanted, no, **needed** to help this other person. But, of course, like most kids, they didn't listen. Nope, they just kept on preaching about how bad it was for Yuki to have ignored them two days earlier.

Since arguing with them would get him absolutely nowhere, Yuki decided that the best thing to do –in this situation at least- was to just take it like a man. So that's what he did. He stood there. And stood there. And stood there. And stood there.

Finally, after what seemed like hours –but in reality had only been a couple of minutes- the kids scolded themselves out and went to play with some of the toys in the room. Yuki was left standing there completely amazed. It seemed to him that the kids had completely forgiven him, just like that.

Even more amazing was the fact that they even seemed to forget what they were yelling at him about.

'Adults need to take their cues from kids sometimes,' he thought to himself. Taking a deep breath he treaded carefully into the room, wary of any kids that would remember that only moments earlier they had been extremely angry. Yuki made quiet footsteps around the room, careful not to pound his feet down.

Startling the kids would definitely not be a good idea.

Way in the back corner of the room there was a little boy who was sitting by himself attempting to read. Every once in a while, the kid's eyebrows would furrow as he came across a word that he didn't know. Yuki looked for the title of the book, just in curiosity to see what the boy was reading.

He raised an eyebrow when he realized that the book that the kid was trying to read was upside down. Suppressing laughter, Yuki walked over to the kid to try and help him. As Yuki walked closer and closer, however, the kid seemed to shrink further and further into the corner. The closer that Yuki walked, the further the kid moved away. By the time that Yuki was standing in front of the boy, the boy's back was pressed flush up against the wall and he shaking like mad.

Yuki kneeled down so he was face to face with the terrified boy. Gently, he lifted the book out of the kid's hands and flipped it over. Once it was the correct way, he placed it back in the kid's trembling hands.

The boy in question was so scared that Yuki doubted that he had even noticed that he had changed the way of the book.

"There," Yuki told him, "that should make it a lot easier to read." Feeling that he had already probably scarred the kid for life, he stood up and walked to the exact opposite side of the room after grabbing one of the books that was on the bookshelf.

There didn't seem to be anybody absolutely wanting to play with him (which he found rather ironic after the stern talking-to that he had received earlier) so he figured that if he just read –albeit, read a kids book- in the corner, everybody would be happier.

In the corner that he was headed to there was a chair that was about three times too small for him and there was a **giant** beanbag chair. Why anybody would chose the puny little hard chair compared to the plush beanbag chair was beyond him. But, strangely enough, there was absolutely nobody in the corner.

'Well, more for me,' he thought as he plopped heavily onto the beanbag chair. He opened the book, ready to be immersed completely into the imaginary world that the book had to offer.

So what if the book was a kid's book? It would provide him at least a little bit of pleasure before he had to find something else to do. After all, he was writer so he absolutely adored reading.

_Once upon a time, in the land of Japan, there lived a little boy with magical powers. Only, he didn't realize that he had magical powers because he lived with his evil aunt and uncle (after all, ALL aunt's and uncles are evil). Muwahahaha…I mean, what? Anyway, the little boy was named Hari Pattaa. He was the only that defeated the bad man. Oh yes, but he didn't know it. He would find out soon though. All would have a magical adventure, but, yet again, he didn't know it._

_One day in July (on his birthday, imagine that) an owl flew in the house trying to drop off a letter. Well, he did what any normal muggle…I mean, non-magical person would do. He ran around screaming, "AHH! AHH! AHH!" Needless to say the owl was very creeped out…_

A tap on Yuki's leg interrupted him from his fascinating reading. Looking down he saw the little boy that he would have sworn he had scarred staring at him with the book that he had been trying to read in his hands. And he had wide eyes. Yes, the kid had a book and wide eyes.

He extended his arms and laid the book into Yuki's lap.

"Would you please read this to me?" he asked in a quiet, timid voice. He looked up at Yuki with those wide, wide eyes. Of course, Yuki couldn't say no. Nope, there was **no** way that he would be able to say no with those eyes just staring at him. Even he, who up until recently had been good at resisting the puppy-dog face could not ignore this.

The bruises all over the kids face (and as far as he could tell, arms too) didn't help. What or whoever had given him those bruises must have hit him really hard. They looked like they hurt. Yuki almost asked the kid where he had gotten those bruises and then decided that that might not be the wisest of decisions. After all, if he couldn't get a seventeen year old to tell him what was bothering, how did he expect to get a probably-ten-year-old to tell him?

And this kid was exactly like Shuichi (except that he could see where Shuichi could not). It was very obvious that he had gone through some sort of bullying in his life, whether it was from school, or from home.

The more that Yuki thought about it, the more astounding similarities to Shuichi he could find in the kid. Perhaps helping this kid would help him learn how to help Shuichi. It most certainly would be a good thing to try.

Although, right now, the best thing to do was ask the kid what his name was. That was a good thing to do, right? After all, he couldn't keep referring to the kid as "the kid".

"Oi, kid, what's your name?" Okay, so that wasn't the most tactful way to ask him, but it would still work. For a brief second the kid looked like he was going sprint off, but instead he stood his ground and answered him.

"M-my n-n-name is Soushi," he stuttered out quietly, losing his former confidence –well, what little confidence that he had had.

"Soushi, eh? Well, what is it, again, that you want me to do?" Yuki asked, pretending not to know.

"C-c-could you p-p-possibly read me that?" he answered, gesturing to the book that he had laid in Yuki's lap. Yuki looked down at the book and then up and boy. He pretended to be deliberating for a while. The kid looked at him very hopeful.

"I guess," Yuki said, slowly. "I can read it to you." He picked up the book and opened to the first page. Soushi backed up and sat into the hard little seat that Yuki had earlier thought would be the most uncomfortable place to sit in the world.

Yuki sighed. He knew that Soushi wouldn't be able to enjoy the story if he was sitting in a very uncomfortable position. Yet, he didn't look like the kind of person that would ask for anything.

Damn, that meant that Yuki needed to offer him some space. The beanbag chair he was sitting was plenty big enough to fit another person in it, even if Yuki was an adult.

"Soushi, come here," Yuki said, using the kid's name for the first time. Using a command as opposed to a question seemed like the best thing to do. Unfortunately for Yuki it held the exact opposite effect. Soushi seized up, afraid to move at all. Apparently he associated those words with bad things.

Mentally hitting himself he closed the book and stood up moving towards Soushi. Although it probably wasn't the best thing to do, at the time it seemed like the only thing to do. Yuki grabbed Soushi's hand and led him to the comfortable beanbag chair. Soushi wasn't moving at all so it made it a lot easier to maneuver him into position.

Yuki carefully shoved Soushi into the beanbag chair. Though, now, as much as Yuki wanted to sit in the beanbag chair, he couldn't. Letting out a humongous sigh he sat in the little chair.

He most certainly didn't fit in it, but he figured that it was probably more comfortable than the floor.

Actually, Yuki looked longingly at the floor; maybe the floor would be more comfortable. He mentally debated for a minute, but then he saw he kid he had placed in the beanbag chair just staring at him, waiting for him to a read the story. He opened the book to the first page again.

Yuki took a deep breath and began.

From the doorway to the children's room a pair of ears with pink hair dusting on top of them listened to him as he read the kid's story.

**End Chapter 9**

nervous laughter Okay, so it has been a while. I'll admit that. I'm sorry! Hey, at least I got it out before 2 months, right? Right! Anyway, I figure that I halfway owe you an explanation for why that took so long.

First off, and it shouldn't be too long, we're going to be moving in June, so we've been cleaning our house like mad. It's insane, really. Another thing, I turned 18 on April 4th so I've been reveling in the glow of being legal -by doing absolutely nothing. School has been a bear since I started taking 20 credits (although, it wasn't so hard that I couldn't make a symbol for every letter of the alphabet and write a pretty lengthy letter to my friend). Also, I've started doing "Apple Crisp Parties" with my friends that take up a lot of time.

Anyway, from the bottom of my heart, I'm sorry. I PROMISE that I'll try and get the next chapter out in a timely manner. To be honest, I'm quite angry with myself for taking that long to update. I'm being hypocritical, but I understand how you people feel when somebody takes that long.

Anyway, onto a review of reviews -and man, there are a lot of them:

**Crazy 4 Grasper:** Too lazy to log in, eh? Oh well, at least now I actually updated, **Dooley:** I'm so sorry! It took so long, **goku-the-saru:** Hahah...yeah...silly waiter. Hey! Are we gonna go see Puffy Amiyumi? Eh? Eh, **Lily Avalon:** Oh my Goodness, that stopwatch would have been going for such a long time, **Grimy Grunhilda Grunt:** I'm SO planning on updating a lot faster next time, **Sakura Minamono:** Hhehehe...I like the couple thing too..., **PyrokineticFeral:** Yes, eventually you will see more characters. I just need to figure out the perfect places to stick them in, **je suis:** Yay! I'm glad you like, **Wilson:** :blushes: Hehehe...I'm glad you like it, **Shirubaa Kitsune:** Shuichi's past is coming next chapter! Yep, **Dark Mimiru-chan:** I'm sorry that it took so long, I promise next time will be shorter, **Shounen Squared:** Hmm...I didn't know that. Thank you, though! I will look for it in the future, **Bram:** Yeah :looks over chapter: he is a little bit OOC. Maybe something'll happen to him though that'll make him broody again, **Tokyo Kitsune:** chokes on fluff, **Shuuichi-chan:** Hey! Sorry it took so long! My bad, **lemur130:** Hahaa...update faster...it took longer...gomen, ne, **Cheley:** I'm so glad that you like it, **Ruby631:** A lift, eh? So, where are you from? Thank you for the review, **Syaoran is kawaii:** Eep! Stop playing with Masa! He's Gackt's, **Trogdor the Burninater:** Shuichi's past is next chapter, **Sliefoxx:** Alright, next chapter Yuki will be less OOC...I hope..., **clear venom:** I will do my best to make it cute from here on out...beware of angst though, **WhiteTopaz:** Sun will do that toa person, **bowwowlover:** Like Yuki, do you? blu-rain: Yay! I'm glad that you guys all like it, **Kloudy Reignfall:** Are you seeing my foreshadowing? I mean...what, **DarrkKatt:** Shuichi can be mad, and yes, I'm glad you think it's cute, **Princess of Mirrors:** Hahaha...it's wicked cool. I agree, **Aizawa Sakura:** Yay! That makes me happy, **Ed:** You're like the girl from Cowboy Bebop! And it's spelled torture, **Sathien:** Yay! Somebody who knows who You is! That's awesome! I love Gackt, **Sailor Epyon:** My friend loves Dir en Grey and Glay...a lot...it's scary, actually..., **Elements:** Hahaa...okay, so for Earthquake it was 1,000 words...for TTDOC it was 1,500 words (that was a chore, I tell you) and for this one it's 2,000 words at least, **WhiteLightning:** That's okay, at least you did eventually review, **gokuchan:** Who told you! I mean...what? Yes, those things will possibly happen...:shifty eyes:..., **shuXyuki:** Yay! I'm glad that you like it! That makes Heather a very happy camper, **ilovekyo:** So, exactly which Kyo is it that you love? Eh, **Destiny:** I think it can be alright...and yes...I do use spell check. I'm glad that you have high expectations, though, **Burning Sky:** I do my best. I hope that next time it's a faster update though, **Silver on the Tree:** Yay! I'm glad that you guys all like it, **FieldOfPaperFlowers:** I'm glad you like it! I just had the weirdest thing happen to me while I was typing up this particular review. The free computer song of the day (on one of our radio stations) played so I called in. I didn't win it, but for the first time EVER (in like, about a week or so) I got through and heard "five keep trying". It doesn't matter that you have to be 101...at least I got through! So happy!...which is why your's is long..., **Flame-chan:** You know what's really weird. I saw I had a review and I was praying "please don't be a flame" because it had been SO long since I updated and I started cracking up when I saw that your pen name was "flame-chan". It made my day, actually. So funny!

Well, that's it! Woohoo! Okay! Heather's questions that she always asks. First off...what country to ya'll's live in? (I'm in the US of A). And the other question, have any of you heard of 'The Decemberists'? I'm just curious.

Okay! That's it! If you're ever bored, I LOVE to chat with people online. My AIM name is Kibethan, my MSN name is Kibethan at msn dot com, my livejournal is Kibethan, and neopets (sadly, yes, neopets) is holidaycookie.

Until next time!

Ki-chan!


	10. Questions, Questions, Questions

**Title: **Blindsided

**By: **Kibethan, yo!

**Disclaimer: **I've noticed that people try to make disclaimers interesting. Let me tell you now that that is :one: tough job. All I can say is...Noitativarg nwo t'nod i.

**Summary: **Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye, so his editor decides to shape him up to seem like a good guy by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by the name of Shindou Shuichi?

**Half-warning: **Oh, look, swearing...

**Previously, on Blindsided:**

_Actually, Yuki looked longingly at the floor; maybe the floor would be more comfortable. He mentally debated for a minute, but then he saw the kid he had placed in the beanbag chair just staring at him, waiting for him to read the story. He opened the book to the first page again._

_Yuki took a deep breath and began._

_From the doorway to the children's room a pair of ears with pink hair dusting on top of them listened to him as he read the kid's story._

**Chapter 10**

**Questions, Questions, Questions**

Never. Never again was Yuki going to read a story to Soushi. That little boy had seemed so sweet at first, asking Yuki to read him a story, but, inside, he was really a demon that just continued on wanting to be read to. Sure, he didn't look it. But Yuki knew the truth.

After all, how could he not after the kid had made him read the book to him multiple times with different tones of voice –drone being the last one that Yuki had used. Needless to say the kid was not happy. But, of course, that didn't really matter, because Yuki had had enough of reading to Soushi.

"Please, Yuki-san, please read it to me again," Soushi begged and pleaded. But, this time, Yuki was **not** going to give in and finally Soushi gave up, resolving to just try to read it himself.

Yuki took that as his cue to quickly exit the kid's playroom and go visit Shuichi. It had been a while since he had seen Shuichi, and as much as he hated to admit it, Shuichi was starting to grow on him. I mean he had taken Shuichi outside. That, in and of itself, was quite a task.

He knocked on Shuichi's door and called in a quick, "Are you decent?" to make sure that he wouldn't have to see more of Shuichi than he wanted to. Receiving no reply, he just walked right in. Shuichi was sitting on his bed looking wistfully towards the window. He wasn't actually looking **at** it per say, his eyes were just facing where the light shone through the window.

"It's a nice day, today, isn't it, Yuki-san?" Shuichi asked Yuki.

"How…?"

"I can feel the sun on my face."

"Ah." Yep, Yuki was being intelligible today. What can you expect, though, after he had just read the same story over and over, again and again?

"We should do something, Yuki!" Shuichi suddenly exclaimed jumping onto his feet. Yuki, surprised from the fast outburst, reeled back in surprise. This was not a side of Shuichi that he had really seen that much. Was the sun really affecting him?

Shuichi, as though sensing the look on Yuki's face, quickly reassured him that he was not crazy.

"I just want to go outside again, Yuki. The sun and the fresh air felt **so** nice."

Yuki couldn't argue with that. How many times had he stopped to feel the sun on his face as he was walking towards the hospital? Okay, so he wasn't really stopping to feel the sun; he was debating whether or not he should actually go in that day. But maybe next time he stopped, he would because he felt the warm sun on his face, or the soft breeze on his face—

Okay, that was going a little bit too far. Yuki knew that he would never do something like that, and he almost chuckled at the thought. In fact, he would have chuckled had he not at that exact instant been tackled by something with pink hair.

Something with pink hair that couldn't see.

Something with pink hair that couldn't see and had a **damn** good sense of where people were.

"What the hell!" Yuki yelled out loud, digging his feet into the floor to keep from falling. When it finally registered in his brain what was currently giving him a giant hug, he jumped again. "Get OFF!"

Instead of feeling the release of arms around his neck and the slow backing away of a body that Yuki **should** have been feeling, he instead felt the body shift as Shuichi moved his face, to face Yuki's, tears starting to shine in his sightless eyes.

"Yuki-san…hates me now?" The tears that once were held prisoner in his eyes slowly started to break from their cage (with the help of gravity) and make their tracks down Shuichi's eyes.

Now, seriously, is there anything worse than making a blind boy cry? Just think about it for a second. Maybe the deaf mute little girl that has bouncy red curls up in pigtails. But the blind boy was pretty much right up there.

Yep, guilt was eating away at Yuki's soul, wounding him to the core. Okay, so that's a bit melodramatic, but dammit, Yuki was feeling a little bit bad. Not so bad as to give an apology, but bad enough that he let Shuichi hang off of him in a slightly loose hug. Hey, it was his apology.

And they stayed that way for, one minute, two minutes, even five minutes. Heck, they probably would've stayed that way for a long time had there not been the sound of the door opening up.

Yuki's head (which had been beginning to drift down from the body heat that was wrapped around him), snapped up. In strolled Ezaniya with Shuichi's lunch. He walked in slowly and looked around, puzzled, for Shuichi. His head turned towards the left, and then turned to the right.

For Yuki, time seemed to go in slow motion. It was like watching a train wreck. As soon as Ezaniya saw both of them, standing there, he jumped about six inches into the air. The food that he had been going somehow, by a miracle of some sort, managed to stay on the tray. His eyes went wide.

Yuki, at that moment, realized that the situation probably looked a lot worse than he had first imagined. He remembered that they were standing there hugging, but he had completely forgotten that, well, both of them were male (and to some people, that's **wrong**) and that Shuichi was, in fact, a minor, while he was quite legal. Oh yeah, Shuichi was definitely jailbait. It is not that they were that far apart in age –six years could hardly be considered taboo- but the fact that Shuichi was still underage was what presented the problem.

Fuck.

He didn't even **like** Shuichi like that, but as far as Ezaniya could tell, they were both lovers gallivanting under the sunny skies.

"What. Are. You. Doing?" he asked in a quiet threatening tone. Shuichi, who had felt Yuki stiffen, turned towards the source of the voice.

"I…" Yuki started to explain.

"**WHAT. ARE. YOU. DOING?**" he asked again, his tone of voice getting much louder and more threatening. Yuki couldn't really blame him. He had seen the protective look thatEzaniya had given Shuichi before. Shuichi was like a son to him. To have some man that he hardly knew –who had a bad rep in the newspapers no less- with his arms partially wrapped around Shuichi was practically clearly enough to make him see red.

Shuichi threw a confused look towards the yelling.

"What's wrong with me hugging him? I just wanted to give him a proper thank you for taking me outside." Shuichi quickly explained. Yuki was quite happy to hear the reason why Shuichi had given him the hug too; he had, after all, be a bit curious himself.

Ezaniya sizzled down a little bit after hearing why it was that he had walked in on the two guys embracing. If it was just because Shuichi was giving a thank you, that would be okay.

Yuki could see the shock that was still evident on Ezaniya's face and he struggled to think how long it would have been since he had seen Shuichi embrace somebody else. When he had first told Yuki about Shuichi, he had explained that Shuichi was kind of quiet, shy, and a recluse.

That certainly didn't seem like the case now, with Shuichi yelling out and jumping all over him. Well, it was probably a good thing that Shuichi was starting to come out of his shell.

"Well, sorry, just jumped to conclusions a little bit," Ezaniya mumbled, "Here's your food, Shu-chan."

Shuichi untangled himself from Yuki and followed his nose to the food. When he got closer, however, he wrinkled his nose at the foul smell. He did not want to eat that food.

Ezaniya, seeing the look of distaste Shuichi gave his lunch, rolled his eyes and shoved the food into Shuichi's hands.

"It's all **your** fault," he scolded Yuki. "You made him remember what it was like to eat normal food. Now he hardly touches this stuff when he used to eat it without complaining. He's going to start not having enough nutrients and get sick."

With that final parting thought, Ezaniya left, stage left. Yuki peered towards the food. It did look a little bit inedible, resembling the kind of food that was forced on him when he was in elementary school. In fact, it looked like the **exact** same food, like they hadn't changed the recipe for that long.

Yuki gave out a loud sigh as Shuichi poked at the food.

"Shuichi, you know, you really should eat it."

"Have you ever tasted it?"

"Well, I…"

"Have you ever tasted it?" Shuichi repeated. "If you taste some of it, then I'll eat the rest of it," he added as an after thought.

Yuki thought about it for a minute, and then decided that it might be okay.

"Promise?" he asked.

"As you long as you promise that you'll have actually eaten it."

"I promise." Yuki moved towards the food –so what if he couldn't figure out exactly what it was? He grabbed the fork, the only fork, and took a small bite of the food. Despite the fact that the bite that he took was so small, he felt as though his taste buds were being raped. He almost spit out the food, but then he remembered his promise to Shuichi and made a heroic effort to swallow it. "There," he choked out, "your turn to eat." He handed the fork to Shuichi and collapsed onto the floor. Yeah, it was just like the food that he was forced to eat in Elementary School.

Together they sat there, Shuichi coughing and trying to eat his food, and Yuki coughing and trying to get his stomach under control after his encounter with the foreign food. Did he really want Shuichi to be eating that?

Yuki heard Shuichi fall back to lie on the bed. He had finally finished eating all of the food. Granted, it had taken a while, but he had finished eventually. Yuki sat up and saw Shuichi just laying there, his eyes closed, looking like he was deep in thought.

"Yuki, can I ask you something?" Shuichi said quietly. The change in Shuichi's voice reflected what Shuichi had been like when he had first met him –albeit, no yelling and swearing.

"Sure," Yuki answered hesitantly, "What's up?"

"I watched you read to that kid." Even though Shuichi had said it quietly, Yuki heard it in his head plain as though it had just been shouted in his ears. He felt his face grow hot and it took him a second to realize that he was blushing. That hadn't happened to him in years. "I watched you read to that kid," Shuichi continued, "and even though I couldn't actually see what was happening, your tone of voice indicated that you would probably be a good person to talk to, if I ever needed to."

"Shuichi, what's wrong?" Yukiquestioned him.

"I need to talk to someone; I just can't keep it bottled up inside forever." Yuki gave him an encouraging nod, before smacking himself and nudging Shuichi on verbally. "I remember my parents. They were both very loving and kind, giving my little sister and me things just to the point of not spoiling us. We were all happy. But then, **it** happened. When it happened, everything just went downhill. All of a sudden, my family wasn't there and I was in an orphanage." Yuki wanted to question what "it" was, but Shuichi continued before he could.

"The orphanage wasn't all that bad. Sure, the food tasted almost worse than what the hospital is serving, and there wasn't really enough room for all of us that were there, but all of us eventually became pretty close-knit. I had two really good friends. Hiro and Suguru were there names. All of their parents were gone too. Sometimes I wonder why they haven't come and visit me in the hospital. I mean, we were **really** good friends."

At this point, tears started to show in Shuichi's eyes and Yuki was helpless to do anything but continue on listening to Shuichi's sad tale.

"We did everything together; we ate, and slept, and even showered together (theorphanage couldn't afford that everybody take all of their showers separately). But then, **he** came. And he ruined everything. He broke up groups that used to be really tight. He couldn't come between us three though, and I think that that pissed him off. So he started to bully us. Hiro was the biggest one of us and could easily stand up to the bullying. Suguru was the smallest and the most easily beat, so Hiro started watching out for him more. Me, being the one that was in the middle was supposed to be able to stand up for myself. I mean, I could even see! But, no, he was stronger than me. I just, couldn't take it. I don't remember exactly what happened...but something did and I ended up here. I wish that I could remember..."

Shuichi ended his story and Yuki was in complete shock. He had **never** expected Shuichi to open up that much to him. It just…hadn't seemed possible. And now, here he was, sitting here like a fish with his jaw on the ground and grappling to find words that he could say that could have some sort of meaning.

What Shuichi had just told him had answered a lot of the questions that had been running through Yuki's head. But, it had also opened a lot more.

What was "it" and who was "he"? These were all things that he was determined to find out.

**End Chapter 10**

Woo-hoo! I made it less of a time between updates than last time! Aren't you proud of me? I just have to say that it's June. That means that a) I am graduating from High School and getting my A.A. from college and b) I am moving. I am going to be quite busy, from now on. I will do my best to update, however, okay?

Onto a review of reviews:

**Shuuichi-chan:** Yes, yes, you got the first review! And sorry about the ooc-ness from Yuki..., **Cheley:** Hehehe...I really like Soushi too and I'm glad that you like my story, **Skweeshy:** Ah! Right! I'm glad that you do like it, **Redroseprincess678:** Shuichi, **Kloudy Reignfall:** hehehehe...I'm glad that you liked the Harry Potter thing..., **Shirubaa Kitsune:** Essentially, it's when my friends and I get to together and make apple crisp..., **Sailor Epyon:** Thank you, lord knows I need it, **GravityNeko:** I'm so glad that you liked it, **Starlit-Knight:** Yes, yes, tell your friends :pressures you, **goku-the-saru:** Hey! It's not like it's that rare of an occurance. Just think, almost done with school..., **checkmarks:** Yay! Me too, **bitter green tea:** Woo-hoo! I'm glad that you like it, **PyrokineticFeral:** You have NO idea how happy that that makes me, **ichi-chan:** GRINS, **Bram:** Gomen, gomen, it's hard to overcome writer's block, **Syaoran is kawaii:** I'm SO glad that you liked my Harry Potter, **tangerine-asuka:** I thought that the kids were so cute, **blu-rain:** muwahahahahaha, **DarrkKatt:** Oh noes!A frying pan, **Tokyo Kitsune:** Yes, sometimes the cuteness is nice, **WhiteLightning:** At least you got it was a spoof on Harry Potter, **tammy-love:** Nah, the Decemberists are a band (which I love), but yay for NJ, **lemur130:** Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! I hope that you're having fun doing whatever it is that you're doing, **Aya:** I have a friend named Aya, **shuXyuki:** Meh, random can sometimes be good, **Kaylariana:** Yeah, well, so what? They'll be back..., **DarkRemembrence:** Woo-hoo! It'll be good, no worries, **necrophile:** Oh! Right! It's on Mediaminer!...I actually forgot...thank you for reminding me, **Sakura Minamino:** Yay! I'm glad that you liked my Harry Potter, **Elements:** I'll e-mail you back, I promise! I'm sometimes slow like that, gomen, **Flame-chan:** Yes, yes, Shuichi's past was in there, no, **Reader:** Ooh! It's a half flame, that's cool. Well, sometimes it's nice to be able to be surprised, no, **Sliver Rose Fox:** I'm so glad that you like it :grins, **Tiki-chan:** Yay! I'm SO glad that you like it, **rebelyell59:** I got your review today. I'm gonna have to ask; what gave you the impression that English wasn't my first language? Because, believe it or not, I was born in Iowa, and lived in Washington and Texas, and Washington again. I'm quite American and would be THRILLED if my first language wasn't English...but it is...so I'm just curious where you got that impression. Anyway, I'm glad that you like it ;

That. Is. IT!

Now, I've noticed that a lot of YOU have noticed that Yuki can be, at times, at bit OOC. Trust me, it was not my intention to make this happen, but generally when I'm writing, I'm in a REALLY good mood, so Yuki ends up being in a good mood too. Now, I promise that I'll TRY to get him back into more character, but you have to remember...this story is AU. Therefore, he can be a little bit happier than he usually is. After all, Shuichi isn't usually blind, right? So Yuki can sometimes be happy and fluffy.

Don't fear the fluff, fear the Chacha (KATIE!)

Please, please, please review! It would mean SO much to me! And, um, if you ever want to talk, my AIM name is Kibethan, my msn is Kibethan at msn dot com, and my livejournal is Kibethan...

Until next time,

Ki-chan


	11. Not Many Options

**Title**: Blindsided

**By**: Kibethan, ya'll don't need to know my real name, though, maybe, you do know it? O.O

**Disclaimer**: Well, because Hiro and Ayaka were boyfriend and girlfriend I obviously don't own the rights to Gravitation. If I did, that would've never happened and Hiro would've been instantly hooked up with K. Poor Suguru, he's always alone…

**Summary**: Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye; so his editor decides to shape him up to seem like a good guy by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by the name of Shindou Shuichi?

**Half-warning**: This chapter might contain some yaoi…wait…of COURSE it does! Ya'll would hurt me if it didn't…oh, but it might contain some swearing too…ALSO! Look up words at your own risk.

This chapter is dedicated to **Elements**! Happy Birthday and thank you always for e-mailing me back…even when it sometimes takes a long time for me to reply…;; I always look forward to talking to you when I see you online!

**Chapter 11**

**Not Many Options**

It had been a week.

A whole week since Shuichi had revealed to him what seemed to be his deepest, darkest, secret. Thoughts of who "he" was and what "it" was still plagued Yuki's mind, but he had learned to live with it.

At the beginning, it had consumed him. He hadn't been able to think of anything else. He had had a vacant look on his face each time he had gone back to the hospital to do his volunteer work.

The kids had definitely noticed. Usually when he came into a room they would jump onto him, almost knocking him done, yelling and screaming. When they did it last time he came, however, they didn't rouse a response out of him. He just stared blankly ahead. Even the characteristic scowl that he usually had placed on his face was gone.

Oh yeah, the kids definitely noticed, and they took advantage of it. Yuki had agreed to things that he never would have agreed to in the first place. He now owed all of them ice cream and a trip to Disneyland when they got out of the hospital. He would have never agreed to that if he had actually been listening.

Ezaniya had noticed. Usually when Yuki checked in to tell him that he was here to volunteer, Yuki's tone of voice would betray that he definitely didn't want to be there –though, lately, his tone of voice didn't convey that message as much; it was still a little bit there though. However, in the past week, if Yuki had even remembered to check in at all, his voice had been monotone, devoid of all emotion possible.

On the times that Yuki had forgotten to check in, Ezaniya had found him in the playroom being unknowingly bullied by the kids there. Ezaniya had sat by the door and listened in, laughing as Yuki had agreed to do God knows what.

Hell, even Shuichi had noticed that something was wrong. Sure he couldn't tell by the body language that Yuki was using because he couldn't see, but he could tell that Yuki was being uncharacteristically quiet. A couple of times he had even thought that Yuki had left the room because it was so quiet. Only when he strained hard and heard the sound of breathing that wasn't his own did he realize that Yuki was, indeed, just sitting there –or standing, he couldn't really be sure.

He had to wonder exactly what it was that Yuki was doing while he was just sitting there.

"Pervert," Shuichi had said. That word had snapped Yuki out of his reverie, if only for a little while.

"What?"

"Pervert," Shuichi repeated, knowing that he was going to finally be able to get Yuki to respond to something.

"I'm **not** a pervert," Yuki stated, trying to defend himself.

"Sure you are. You're sitting alone, quiet, in a room with a cute, sexy boy such as myself. Who knows where your hands are and what they're doing at the moment. I keep half expecting you to start moaning…"

In another uncharacteristic moment, Yuki had blushed bright red, unable to believe that Shuichi had been hiding that dirty mind from him.

The last person that had figured out that something was wrong with Yuki was his editor, Mizuki. She had called him a couple of days ago to chew him out for forgetting to call her every other day. It had been days since he had called her and she was starting to get worried, not to mention pissed.

When she had called, however, he had completely neglected to answer his phone, getting her to actually walk to his home and up to his doorstep and ring the doorbell. After the sixth time ringing the doorbell and he **still** hadn't answered the door, she had almost broke the door down to make sure that he wasn't in there dead.

However, she had rung the doorbell once more, for good measure. Luckily she had; Yuki had answered the door as she was about to kick in the door, barely dressed. Had she burst in earlier, she probably would have been greeted with a scene that she –unlike many fangirls- did not want to see.

Even though up until that point she had suspected that Yuki's mind was being occupied by something else, she was absolutely positive when she gave him a lecture and he didn't once interrupt her and try to defend himself.

Nope.

He just stood there and took it, promising to call in a week –Mizuki had changed it from every two days because she knew that Yuki would never remember to call.

Everybody was worried about him, but nobody actually decided to take action and do something about it. They all just watched him, or got him to do things that he wouldn't usually do.

Yes. At the beginning of the week he had not been able to get his mind off of it. Even he had known that he needed to get his mind on something else. But he just hadn't been able to. However, he was starting to get over it.

And now here he was, seven days later, and not having to go in to the hospital. Yuki wracked his brain trying to figure out what he could do for the whole day.

He could, hmm, read? Yuki quickly crossed that out, arguing with himself that there were no good books out, except his own.

Seeing a movie was also out because there were no good movies either. Yuki went through possibility after possibility and finally decided that he only really had two options.

He could stay at home and mope, or he could go to the hospital and visit. Neither option seemed particularly desirable, but he had deduced that those were definitely his only two.

He decided to stay home and mope. What could possibly be better than that? He had stayed in his boxers and plopped down onto the living room couch, a beer in one hand and the remote in the other.

However, upon turning on the T.V. he had realized that there was nothing on except daytime soaps and he would rather be infibulated than watch those. Sure, it was fun to write drama, but at least his books didn't involve, "last week on Pregnant Days in Tokyo, Megumi got pregnant with Kazuki's baby…or did she! We found out it was actually Daisuke's, who is currently in a coma from being hit by a car, driven by Megumi's own sister, Ayumi, who was angry at him for having an affair with Miori (the slut!) who is secretly pregnant with Kazuki's love child. Meanwhile, Satoshi caught Aiko sleeping with his father! And worse! She's pregnant too!"

Even though he would've rather been infibulated, there was nothing else on so he watched the first minute and after Megumi revealed her true love for Daisuke, he shut it off, not being able to stomache another word of it.

Yuki hadn't just changed the channel; he had shut off the entire T.V., afraid to ever turn it on again. He had a feeling that Megumi's high squeaky voice was going to haunt him for the rest of his life.

Yuki just laid there for a while, staring at the ceiling, the pattern beginning to burn itself into his retinas. He blinked and sat up. Moping around the house was turning out to be much lamer than he had originally thought. His only other option, he had figured, was to go to the hospital.

So that's where he was headed.

Still in his boxers –and he had only had a sip of the beer!- he opened the door to head outside and was instantly bombarded by freezing cold. Oh yes, it was still winter. He shut the door and went to put on some more clothes.

It was an absolutely beautiful day out, sunny, but with a biting cold. He put on multiple layers before attempting to make the journey outside again. As he was walking down the street, he wished that he had been smart enough to drive to the hospital instead of walking; it was so cold!

While he was walking he saw all the green and red spattered everywhere, as well as the lights hung up on all the houses and he realized that it was almost Christmastime. This brought about a whole new fear in Yuki.

Was he going to have to visit his parents? His brother? His sister? Was he going to have to get them presents? Should he get Shuichi something?

He paused in his steps; what kind of things would Shuichi like anyway? He had already gotten him a teddy bear. Yeah, he didn't need to get Shuichi anything else.

He continued his walk to the hospital. A light layer of clouds settled itself over him, and it started to snow softly. Instead of stopping to feel the snowflakes on his face, Yuki quickened his pace, eager to get out of the cold. He much more preferred the heat.

Once he got to the hospital, instead of checking in with Ezaniya, he just walked right up towards Shuichi's room. He figured that since he wasn't officially volunteering that day, he could bypass the visit to Ezaniya.

As he neared the room, he could hear hushed voices whispering rapidly. He approached closer. The voices seemed to be coming from right in front of Shuichi's room. Yuki mildly wondered what they were talking about. Okay, so mildly wasn't exactly the right word. He was extremely curious. Yuki sat down nonchalantly in a seat, close enough to hear what they were saying. He hoped that the two that were talking were into their conversation enough so that they wouldn't notice somebody around them. His hopes were answered.

Yuki was shocked, though, when he actually took a close look at exactly who it was that was talking outside of Shuichi's room.

It was Ezaniya. And a nun.

Okay, so he could kind of understand why Ezaniya might be standing outside of Shuichi's room. After all, Ezaniya was involved in Shuichi's life daily. The nun, however, Yuki couldn't understand.

He watched their body language closely. Sure, he could hear them all right, but communication is only 10 verbal. The nun was pacing back and forth in front of Ezaniya. With his glasses on, Yuki could tell that she was incredibly nervous and worried about something.

Ezaniya looked worried as well, his hands wringing around a piece of paper that he had been carrying. Yuki struggled to get a little bit closer.

"What are we going to do?" the nun asked. "With Christmas coming up the orphanage is running low on money. We don't have the funds to continue to pay for Shuichi's stay in the hospital. Maybe he should just come back…"

"No, he can't go back. He doesn't know his way around the orphanage by heart. He wouldn't be able to get around. Not to mention, isn't **he** still there?"

"Yes, Taki is still at the orphanage. He's just as troublesome as always too. Under normal circumstances I would never bring Shuichi back. But, but," the nun stopped moving and stared right into Ezaniya's eyes, "we can't afford him to stay here."

"I could pay," Ezaniya started, "I could use some of my paycheck to continue to keep Shuichi here. I'm sure if we worked together we would be able to gather the money…"

"I will not have you use your own money, Ezaniya-san."

"But what other options are there? Could he possibly be adopted?"

"Nobody is willing to adopt a 17 year old blind boy."

Yuki listened with baited breath. Shuichi was going to have to leave? But…where would he go? As the nun had said, he would only be able to go back to the orphanage. And this Taki person…was he, "he"?

Yuki continued on listening.

"Is it possible," Ezaniya asked, "for Shuichi to just live with somebody else? Not necessarily be adopted, but just living with somebody?"

"The law state's that, no, that's not allowed because Shuichi is a minor."

"He's seventeen. He'll be eighteen very soon, though!"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures. Why, Ezaniya, do you have somebody in mind? Surely not yourself; you have 4 kids already and don't have room or time for somebody else."

"No, not myself, but I **do** know of somebody that I think has the time and room."

Yuki held his breath. No way. There was no way that Ezaniya was even considering volunteering him, right? No, he would just have to sit patiently and hope that he mentioned who he was thinking of. Apparently the nun was thinking the same thing.

"Who are you thinking of, Ezaniya-san?" she asked politely.

"His name is Yuki Eiri, he volunteers here at the hospital and has actually taken Shuichi outside before. He would be perfect."

"Isn't he that good-for-nothing author that's always getting into trouble?" Yuki was so in shock that he didn't even register that what the nun had just said was a complete and udder insult to him. Ezaniya had volunteered him. Had volunteered HIM to do watch after Shuichi!

"He's not all that bad. Sure he's a bit rough around the edges, but he does like Shuichi and I think that he's getting better. He has everything that Shuichi would or could possibly need…"

"NO!"

The nun and Ezaniya wheeled towards the loud outburst.

"Yuki-san?' Ezaniya asked. "What are you doing? Why are you here?"

"This is Yuki?' the nun asked Ezaniya.

"I won't do it! I won't! I won't! I won't! I can't watch after Shuichi!"

"I guess there's not point in asking how much of our talk you've heard, isn't there?" Ezaniya asked dryly.

"You won't do it?" the nun asked, tears starting to shine in her eyes. She was quite obviously very stressed out over this thing. "You won't even do it, even during the Christmas season?"

Yuki stared at her, ready to yell at them again. Yet, he found that he couldn't shout. The reason, of course, being that he was staring at a nun with tears in her eyes. Who could possibly resist the tearing up nun? Certainly not Yuki.

"I, I just couldn't watch after Shuichi. He and I still only barely get along and my house might not be 'blind-friendly' if you know what I mean."

"Yuki-san," the nun started, "Please, PLEASE take him. We are completely out of options. If I could think of something else, I would. Won't you please watch him until another option opens up?"

"Well…I…"

"Eiri-san," Ezaniya started, using a more familiar name, "if you do this I will consider this your volunteer work and you won't have to come to the hospital again. I will call Mizuki-san and let her know. We are truly begging you."

With that both he and the nun got down onto their knees, silently begging. Yuki knew he wasn't going to be able to say "no". He was going to have to watch the brat because he couldn't bring himself to say "no" to a begging nun.

He couldn't say "no" **especially** around Christmas.

"Fine. I'll do it."

Even as he said those words, Yuki was starting to regret them. But he couldn't take them back.

He was just going to have to learn to live with having Shuichi live with him.

Fuck.

**End Chapter 11**

Sorry about ending with a swearword; it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Okay, so, Hi! I'm Ki-chan! Nice to meet you! Yes, it seems like it's been an awful long time since I've updated. I'm sorry. I truly didn't mean to let it be this long. Just…just…things happened. And I'm moving into my dorm on September 16th! Scary!

Let's see. Oh yes! Thank you **Ro Buddi** for a lot of help for this chapter. I definitely needed it.

Onto a review of reviews, and man, there are a lot of them:

**PyrokineticFeral**: Soul mates, are you and Yuki? I'm glad that you enjoyed it so much! More of Shuichi's past to come…, **DarkMetalAngel of Destruction**: Woot! I'm glad that you enjoyed it, **Crazy4TR112**: Yay! I'm glad an AU could keep your attention…, **checkmarks**: Yay! I'm glad when people enjoy a chapter, **lemur130**: Soon, soon. With any luck, anyway, **Elements**: Yay! Hehehe…I LOVE YOUR REVIEWS:squeals, **ddz008**: I love it when this is one of somebody's favorite stories! You have NO idea how happy that makes little old me, **Shirubaa Kitsune**: I hope, hope, hope, that you enjoyed this chapter, **goku-the-saru**: I hope that you're having more luck with your Japanese students. Really and truly, things will get better, ** shuxyuki**: Like kisses, do you, **cutelilpuppieyez**: And it turns out that you were right, **jenjenjen**: I'm glad that you enjoy it, **Shado-Fyre**: Cliffhangers are fun, **Flame-chan**: You know what's funny. A lot of people liked the taste buds being raped part. And Hiro and Suguru should show up again…, **Maria Wong**: Yay! I'm glad that you understand that, **alchemistgrl09**: Hehehe…I'm glad you like it, **Tiki-chan**: Glad you like, glad you like, **Kaira Hikaru**: Yes, yes they are, **Kloudy Reignfall**: I'm sorry, your name is just awesome. Every time I see that I think that…, **Ichigo-Inari**: MUWAHAHAHAH, I'm not very fast at updating, **Shuuichi-chan**: I just sneezed…were you talking about me, **Annie loves it**: Hyper is always good, no worries, **sushi-tomodachi**: yes…sushi is our friend…just remember that, **WhiteLightning**: Arigatou for the review! I can't think of anything else to say…, **riya-chan**: You have no idea how much I like sarcasm…I think it's because my dad is sarcastic, **Trogdor the Burninater**: I like getting encouragement! Encouragement is good, **The Draconian Mistress**: So, you either like Draco Malfoy, or Dragons…I'm curious…which is it, ** animefreaktyan**: Wait and see, wait and see. I think that you're quite good at predicting though, **Akeatia Mochidzuki Ookami**: I'm very curious. :How: did you come with a name like that, **DarrkKatt**: I'm going to assume that means that you liked it, **Cookie-forced to log in**: Awww, you should :always: review, **Syaoran is kawaii**: Yes, yes I did, **Sailor Epyon**: Will do, Will do, **spastic chicken**: I'm glad you thought so then, but will you still think so, almost two months later, **Jenniyah**: Woot! Glad that you enjoy1, **robuddi**: RO! I MISS YOU! Even though I'm currently talking to you :blushes, **FullMetalRitz**:grabs a shocker-thingy: CLEAR :shocks Ritz-chan: Are you alive? Are you?

That's it! Grand total of 37! Oh baby! As always, if you want to talk, IM me at Kibethan on AIM, Kibethan at msn dot com for MSN, and holidaycookie on neopets..

Review, onegai!

This is Ki-chan, over and out! Oh yes, and I apologize if there are grammar errors and such. My computer doesn't like me sometimes...


	12. The First Transition

**Title**: Blindsided

**By**: Kibethan

**Disclaimer**:checks: mailbox: Damn, Maki Murakami STILL hasn't sent me the rights to Gravitation. Oh well, maybe tomorrow. :sighs:

**Summary**: Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye; so his editor decides to shape him up to seem like a good guy by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by the name of Shindou Shuichi?

**Half-warning**: Yaoi alert, yaoi alert, oh, and swearing alert. Is that enough of a warning for you?

I wasn't going to do this…but…this chapter is also dedicated to **Elements**. I told myself I wouldn't do it more than once, but I am :ever: appreciative when people listen to me when I need it…so…yeah…this chapter is dedicated.

**Chapter 12**

**The First Transition**

Even as Yuki was eating his words, his mind was thinking about all of the things that he had to do to prepare for Shuichi to come over. In his mind he knew that there was no way he was going to be able to get out of it, so he figured that he might as accept the fact that Shuichi was going to be living with him.

But oh, the amount of work that needed to be done. He needed to blind-proof his house. He needed to buy some food (while Yuki could survive off beer and strawberry shortcake, Shuichi probably couldn't), he needed to find out what kind of medicinal needs that Shuichi had (couldn't have Shuichi passing out from lack of a certain type of medicine), and, most importantly in his opinion, they needed to actually tell Shuichi that he was moving.

Yuki hoped that there wouldn't be too much of a fuss. After all, he didn't really want to do it anyway. But that nun had been so convincing. He didn't really want to be the one who told Shuichi, though.

"Will you be the one to tell Shuichi that he's moving?" Yuki asked Ezaniya.

"Why me?"

"Because I think he'll kill me."

"Fine, Yuki-san, because you are agreeing to take him in, I'll tell him."

Ezaniya walked into Shuichi's room. Muffled mumbling could be heard outside of the room where Yuki and the nun waited with baited breath. All of a sudden, there was a pause of silence and then an angry voice erupted.

Quite obviously the voice was Shuichi's and Ezaniya had just finished telling him that he was going to be living with Yuki. Yuki couldn't blame him for not wanting to live with him. After all, they didn't exactly get along like Gackt and You. Even though they were starting to get along better, they were a long ways away from achieving being the best of friends.

The voice escalated a bit further, but Yuki still couldn't understand what was being said, much to his disappointment and relief. He was disappointed because he was kind of curious; however, he was relieved because who knew what bad things that Shuichi was saying about him.

The door opened and Shuichi was left yelling at nobody when Ezaniya left the room. Ezaniya rubbed his temples in frustration.

"Okay, that didn't go as smoothly as planned." Had it not been such a serious moment (telling Shuichi he was leaving the hospital), Yuki would have laughed. He had known in his mind that Shuichi wasn't going to take the news well. Instead of laughing, however, Yuki told that nun that she should try.

"You're turn, Sister," he said with as much respect as possibly. "Perhaps, you can get Shuichi to change his mind."

"He doesn't exactly have a choice," Ezaniya explained. "He's going to be going with you whether he wants to or not, but we're trying to make it so that he understands that it's for the good of the orphanage and that you volunteered to take him in so that the orphanage will have more money. However, he didn't let me get that far before practically shouting my ear off."

"Alright," the nun said, "I'll try."

With her hands down at her side, the nun entered the room. Shuichi's voice had died down when he realized that there was nobody in the room with him anymore. But, as soon as the door opened he started shouting again.

"He's being a brat," Yuki told Ezaniya. "I don't think that even **I** protested this much when asked me to take him in."

"But, you have to understand," Ezaniya explained loudly, trying to drown out Shuichi's shouting, "we asked you, didn't tell you. You had a choice to say 'no'; he doesn't. Also, that room has been all that Shuichi has known for a very long time. I have a feeling that the thought of living somewhere else has him terrified. He'll come around once he figures out that it won't be as bad as he thinks. Although, I think he's starting to come to that conclusion."

Yuki furrowed his eyebrows trying to figure out what Ezaniya meant by that when he realized that Shuichi had stopped yelling. Who knew what things that the nun had said to him to get him to calm down. She walked out of the room, a pleased expression written on her face.

"Yuki-san, he wishes to speak to you."

Yuki's eye's widened. He didn't want to have to deal with Shuichi until he was walking him home. With his luck, Shuichi was going to start yelling at him the second that he walked in the door, and he really didn't want to have to deal with that. However, the nun was giving him **that** look again. He sighed and walked up to the door.

Taking a deep breath, he opened it. He braced himself for an onslaught of words. Weirdly enough, they didn't come. He let out the breath and took a look at Shuichi. Shuichi wasn't even looking towards him; his gaze was directed away.

"You volunteered to take me in?" Shuichi asked, his voice somewhat hollow.

"So what if I did?"

"Thank you."

That comment surprised the hell out of Yuki to the point of him not really being able to respond because he was so shocked. Out of the all the things that he was expecting, that wasn't on the list. He just hadn't expected Shuichi to be grateful.

"Uhm, you're welcome," he answered lamely. "If you don't mind me asking, what did the nun say to you to get you to calm down?" he added as an afterthought.

"She explained to me that the orphanage was tight on money and that, while I could stay here if I wanted to, it would mean that the orphanage would have to cut funding for other things, such as presents and blankets and such. She told me that they could still afford to pay for my medical care, but were having a hard time paying for letting me stay in the hospital. She kind of opened my eyes to the fact that I'm wasting the orphanage's money. I'm not a bad person; I grew up in that orphanage and know how short on money that they already are. I can't let them spend more money on me.

"But that doesn't mean that I'm not scared out of my mind. I have no idea what your apartment is like. I just need you to tell me that you'll keep me safe. Don't get any wrong ideas by that last sentence; I just don't want to **die** in your house. So, can you keep me safe?"

"Yes?"

"You don't sound so sure."

"Yes. I can keep you safe. I'm going to go back out and talk to Ezaniya. Do you want to come with?"

"Nah, I think I'll stay here in my room for a while. I want to give it its proper goodbye, okay?"

"Sure."

Yuki left the room by himself. Ezaniya immediately bombarded him with questions and Yuki answered each question to the best of his ability. After Ezaniya had questioned him about what Shuichi had asked him, he immediately started telling Yuki about Shuichi's needs. Yuki gave a start and was slightly annoyed because he actually had to listen, rather than answer mindlessly.

And man, Ezaniya was giving him all **kinds** of instructions. Yuki's eyes crossed slightly as he tried to remember everything that Ezaniya was telling him. Mostly the instructions were about what medicine that Shuichi took for his eyesight because there was always that chance that his eyesight **might** come back. You never know.

And if the doctor who prescribed the prescription said that it was possibly, then it was possible.

A thought crossed Yuki's mind.

"So when is Shuichi going to come live with me?"

Ezaniya looked down sheepishly.

"We were hoping, maybe, today?"

Yuki immediately thought to the state of his house. He knew that he had thought about how he had to blind-proof it earlier, but was it clean enough to have a blind person live in it? Sure, he was planning on making it better –he had been planning on it as soon as he went home that night, actually- but was it ready in it's current condition?

No.

But, if he led Shuichi around by the hand for a couple of days, then it would probably be ready.

"I suppose," Yuki said out loud. Inside his mind he was yelling at himself for becoming such a pushover.

"Wonderful!" Ezaniya exclaimed. "Since I know that you most likely didn't get all of what I told you before, I'll give you the instructions. They're in my office and I've long since memorized what I had to do, so I don't need them anymore."

"Thanks."

"Well then, shall we get the little guy?"

It didn't take Shuichi that long to pack since he had very little things. And, as reluctant and as nervous as Shuichi had seemed before, he now seemed positively eager to be in a new place.

Yuki was absolutely sure that Shuichi just had to be bipolar.

While Shuichi was packing, Ezaniya and Yuki excused themselves to go get the instructions.

Since it was absolutely freezing out, Shuichi had gotten changed into some cold weather clothes. He moved around in them a bit because he was most definitely not used to wearing them. The hospital's temperature was always kept at around 70 degrees.

Right as Shuichi had started getting changed into the warmer clothing, Yuki had barged into the room.

"GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! **PERVERT!**" Shuichi screamed when he smelled Yuki enter the room. Yuki quickly ducked back out into the hall, a blush on his face. He kept trying to convince himself that he hadn't seen anything, but he was having a hard time doing that.

A few minutes later Shuichi exited the room. "I'm ready!" he announced, his packed clothes in one hand and his walking stick in the other. Shuichi had told him when he took him out, though, that he didn't like to use it that much –only in emergencies. It's not like he couldn't use it (Yuki had made Shuichi show him that he could use it and was impressed when Shuichi managed to avoid many obstacles), he just didn't like to. Call it a preference thing.

"Yuki!" he called out.

"What?"

"Take my hand and my luggage, Yuki-san and lead the way! I'm ready for brighter pastures! Ready to see the world –not literally of course…"

"We're only walking maybe two miles, carry your own damn luggage," Yuki mumbled.

"No! I want you to carry it! That way you can hold my hand and guide me! It'll be _easier _that way." The turnaround that Shuichi had had was still shocking Yuki. He wasn't sure if he was going to be able to deal with an overly cheery teenager living in his house.

Well, it was probably been than the alternative. Yuki shuddered to think what it would be like having an angsty, the-world-hates-me teen living with him. Yuki decided that he was quite grateful and just took the luggage out of Shuichi's hands, but he hadn't taken Shuichi's hand yet.

Yuki stared dumbly at the hand that Shuichi was patiently waiting for him to take. He shook his head clear and grabbed Shuichi's hand, feeling as it tightened around his own.

Yuki jerked Shuichi, getting him to follow him.

The ride in the elevator to get to the first floor was much more graceful than the first time they rode it. Yuki was delighted to see that Shuichi had gotten used to riding in it and was pleased when Shuichi braced himself for the elevator to stop. He was also prepared for the tug that Yuki would give when it was time for him to get moving.

Shuichi had obviously gotten so used to walking with Yuki that the walk to Yuki's house went fairly smooth.

Only once did Yuki not see a patch of ice and fall down, bringing Shuichi on top of him. Just like the time when they had spilled out of the elevator, a lot of people stared at them. After many attempts, though, Yuki finally managed to stand back up again.

He had nearly left Shuichi lying there on the ground until he remembered that he had changed from his old habits and was no longer the horrible, mean Yuki that he had once been. Grabbing Shuichi under the armpits he had hoisted him up effortlessly.

"Yuki-san, thank you again for letting me stay with you," Shuichi told him, breaking a long silence.

"Oh, it's not a problem," Yuki reassured him.

"But you probably have a lot of things going on over the holidays." Yuki fell silent as he tried to remember if he had any plans. He couldn't actually think of any.

"Nope."

"Well! Then we'll have our own Christmas together! It'll be so much fun!" Shuichi said, a bright smile on his face.

They walked the rest of the way in silence, Yuki still trying to figure out how he was going to clean up his house, and Shuichi with his bright smile still on his face. Only when they were almost there did Yuki speak.

"Well, here we are," Yuki said as they walked up to the door. He let go of Shuichi's hand and unlocked the door. Walking behind Shuichi, he gently pushed him in. He led him to the living room where we sat him down.

"Welcome home, Shuichi."

**End Chapter 12**

Well, as you guys might be able to tell, I'm trying, oh so trying to get these chapters out fast. **Trying** to finish Blindsided before I go off to college. I apologize for any errors. I have an excuse though! I do use spell check and such, but since I have a laptop (an iBook G4) that doesn't have Internet Explorer, the preview window where I usually check for all of my errors comes out totally in html, and I don't really want to mess with that, so I just leave it. So, I apologize for errors.

Oh yes! Is anybody else going to go to the Bite of Oregon? I'm going on Friday, if any of ya'll'll be there! I'm also thinking about going to Kumoricon, but I don't know if that's any good or not…

Onto a review of reviews:

**Robuddi**: HAHAHAHA…I watched "Elf" last night and laughed so hard when a nun came on that was like the nun in Blindsided, **jenjenjen**: sorry it didn't make sense, Yuki is going to be taking care of him, not adopting him, **rebelyell59**: I'm curious, where were you that it was 4 in the morning, ** FullMetalRitz**: MUWAHAHAA…I have no idea why I just did that, **dark5731**: Oh man, I am going to have SO much fun with that, **Tiki-chan**: I rather liked my disclaimer too. Man, I wish that K and Hiro would hook up, **bram**: Sorry about the whole waiting forever thing…my bad…, **pikapikaryuchan**: Hehehe, it'll be fun having them live together, ne, ** ayu**: Well, it's not quite finished yet, **shuxyuki**: I promise, eventually they will kiss, okay, **Akeatia Mochidzuki Ookami**: Right, right, Japanese, **Anna Sartin**: I am fast! It's been…six days, **I have no name**: You have no name? That's sad…, **Classy Raven**: Your e-mail didn't show up :cries, if you review again put it like Kibethan at msn dot com (like, completely write it out, I can figure it out from there), **checkmarks**: It **is** a wonderful day, **Flame-chan**: It was a long time in the making, ne, **tammy-love**: I'm getting a lot better at updating, ** Sailor Epyon**: Will do, **Grimy Grunhilda Grunt**: Well, of course that was gonna happen, **xunxin kohaku**: I'm going to go to Western Washington University in Bellingham, **Mizuky**: Yeah, sorry about the long time…and I hate Taki too, **Kaylariana**: Thank you! It's hard explaining to someone that having a life makes it difficult to update, and yes, Gackt is **AWESOME**, **WhiteLightning**: Yay! I'm so glad that it did, **Elements**: As usual, your review was awesome, ** lemur130**: It was always in the back of my mind, **Lina-Yuki**: Practice makes perfect as far as English goes, **Kloudy Reignfall**: The soap opera thing was so much fun to write, **PyrokineticFera**l: Oh, well, of course Yuki is a pervert, **riya-chan**: I'm so glad!

Alrighty! That's it! I should mention, because I'm planning on updating faster, I'm sad because I won't get as many reviews (yes, reviews ARE my life) so I'm just asking, BEGGING people to review. I want to try and keep my average past 30 reviews a chapter, so please, PLEASE, review!

And if you want to talk! I'm not snooty (I promise!)! Kibethan on AIM. Kibethan at msn dot com, and Holidaycookie on neopets.

Until next time,

Kib-buddi


	13. The Second Transitory Phase

**Title**: Blindsided

**By**: Kibethan

**Disclaimer**:checks under her bed: Are you there:checks in her closet: Are you there:checks in her "The Broke Diaries" book: Maybe you're in here? Damnit! The rights to Gravitation don't seem to be anywhere in my possession…guess that means that I still don't own it. Soon though, soon…hahaha…I wish!

**Summary**: Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye; so his editor decides to shape him up to seem like a good guy by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by the name of Shindou Shuichi?

**Half-warning**: Oh no! It's the dreaded half-warning! Of course, it's not as fearsome as the full-warning would be…wait, what am I warning you about again? Oh yes! There is **still** yaoi in this story. No, I didn't decide to have suddenly have Shuichi hook up with Ayaka, and Yuki hook up with Maiko. Hell, I don't even think I have Ayaka and Maiko in this story yet…oh yes! Beware of mild swearing too…And, one more thing, beware of a little bit of out of character-ness in Yuki.

**Chapter 13**

**The Second Transitory Phase**

It had been a total of five hours since Shuichi had entered Yuki's house and already Yuki could see all of the things that he was going to have to do that he hadn't thought of before.

It hadn't exactly occurred to him that Shuichi wouldn't automatically know where everything was. Sure, subconsciously he knew it, but it didn't hit the surface until he was asked about twenty times to lead Shuichi places until Shuichi knew it by the number of paces it took to get from one place to another.

And, of course, there was that other big problem as well. Where was Shuichi going to sleep? Yuki lived in a one-bed home and they couldn't exactly share a bed.

The problems were all whirling around in his mind. That had coupled with the fact of a slightly disturbing phone call that he had received an hour earlier.

Yuki had answered the phone, thinking that it was either Ezaniya telling him that he forgot something from the hospital, or that it was Mizuki calling to remind him of a deadline that he had to meet.

When he had answered the phone, though, and the voice turned out to be Tatsuha he had nearly dropped the phone in shock. He couldn't figure out why Tatsuha had called him. That was, until Tatsuha gave him the news.

Tatsuha told him that he was coming to visit for Christmas. Actually, not just him; his whole family (minus his dad who was going to be staying at the temple) was going to be coming to visit. Yuki wasn't exactly sure why his dad wasn't going to be coming, but was completely okay with it. However, he wasn't exactly okay with the rest of his family coming.

It was supposed to be a quiet Christmas with just him and Shuichi. Quiet, however, was definitely not how he would describe his family.

That wasn't the worst news that Tatsuha had told him either. He told him that he was going to be coming early. This meant that in one day he was going to have to deal with his brother.

Yuki had, of course, tried to resist. Even raising his voice, however, did not convince Tatsuha to not come.

Shuichi had given no indictation at all of hearing the raised voice. He had just stayed sitting on the couch in the living room, staring at nothing.

Yuki had hung the phone up with a slam, grumbling to himself. It was only then that Shuichi spoke.

"What's wrong, Yuki?" he had asked, quietly. Yuki hadn't been sure if he wanted to explain or not, but had decided that it would be better to give Shuichi some warning that a whole bunch of weird, crazy people –in his opinion, anyway- were going to be coming over from Christmas.

"My family is going to be coming over for Christmas," Yuki had explained. "They're a kind of weird bunch…"

"Oh, Yuki, that's wonderful! Christmas is best shared with a bunch of people! The more the merrier!"

It was then that Yuki had had a sneaking suspicion that Shuichi had been listening to him while he was on the phone and had been planning what to say.

Yuki stole a glance at the calendar on his wall. December 20th. There were only five days left until Christmas. Five days to get Christmas presents for everybody, including Shuichi (what **did** that boy want, anyway?). Shuichi was sitting in the living room again, clutching Mamoru-chan. When they had first gotten home, Yuki had been afraid that Shuichi had forgotten Mamoru-chan in the hospital room and when he had questioned Shuichi, Shuichi had just smiled and pulled the black bear out of his shirt.

That boy hadn't hardly let go of the bear since he took it out. What else would Yuki be able to get Shuichi that would possibly have the same effect?

The word 'nothing' came to Yuki's mind, but then he figured that there had to be something that Shuichi would like. It would just take a lot of time to figure out. And time didn't seem to be something that Yuki would have a lot of.

Especially if Tatsuha was coming tomorrow. He needed to come up with yet another place to stick someone to sleep, most likely, the floor.

Yuki's stomach grumbled, digesting the food that they had eaten earlier. The meal portions had been humongous and he and Shuichi had taken lots of it home; however, Yuki still needed to go out to the store and buy some groceries,

It was getting late, though. Sure, the stores would still be open, but it was dark and the strange characters always hung around the stores at dark. It wasn't that Yuki was scared, just smart. He could hold his own in a fight if he had to, but he preferred not to have to if he could.

Yuki heard a yawn come from the living room. Okay, it wasn't **that** late yet.

"Shuichi? Are you tired?" Yuki called out from the kitchen. He craned his neck around the corner and watched as Shuichi sleepily nodded his head. Yuki glanced at the clock. It was hardly even 8:00, but, then again, Shuichi had had a busy day and had eaten a lot of food. It was only natural for him to feel sleepy.

This changed the order of Yuki's list of priorities slightly though. He now had to figure out where Shuichi was going to be sleeping the night.

With a deep sigh, Yuki knew what he needed to do -at least for the night, however. He walked into the living room. Shuichi was lying on the couch and Yuki almost left him there, but he knew that as comfortable as his couch was, his bed was much more so.

"Shuichi, sit up," Yuki said quietly. No response from the pink-haired boy lying in front of him. Yuki shook him gently and Shuichi still gave no response. That boy was currently not in the land of the living (not in the land of the dead either, though). No, Shuichi was merely asleep.

Yuki gave a giant sigh. Slipping one hand underneath Shuichi's knees and one hand underneath his back, Yuki carefully lifted Shuichi up and carried him to the bedroom. Yuki wasn't stupid enough to undress Shuichi –who **knew** what could happen- so he just pulled back the covers and slipped Shuichi between them.

Yuki turned out the lights as he left the room and walked back into the kitchen. He opened the fridge for the hundredth time before he decided that he would have to brave the thugs that were going to be at the grocery store because they really needed food. He just couldn't deny it any longer.

With a quick check back in his bedroom to make sure that Shuichi was still asleep and to grab his jacket, Yuki was ready to go to the store. The store in question was in fact not very far away, but he decided to drive, just in case he needed to make a quick getaway (not from doing any thing illegal, mind you).

He slipped behind the steering wheel of his car and his sat there. How long had it been since he had driven? He couldn't even remember the last time he had. Oh well. He started the car as quietly as he could and backed out of the driveway. He didn't want to wake up Shuichi. If Shuichi woke up and figured out that Yuki wasn't there bad things could happen.

Five minutes later Yuki was in the store's parking lot. Just as he had figured before, there were all sorts of people just standing around, loitering. He parked in the closest parking spot he could find, but it just wasn't close enough and he knew that he was going to be confronted.

I mean, anyone would be able to feel all of the stares that were on the back of his neck.

He was surprised, though, when he was able to get into the grocery store without it happening. He walked around the store slowly for a few minutes, cursing himself for not being better prepared with a list of all the things that they needed. He shut his eyes and tried to picture the refrigerator and what it had in it, but he kept drawing a blank. All that he knew was that he didn't have basically anything.

So he finally grabbed a cart and bought basically everything. He bought meat, cheese, milk, bread, sweets, fruits, and even, yes, vegetables. He didn't buy very many of them though.

He had thought about just going out to eat for Christmas, but then he knew that his family would just not approve of that (not that he cared about their approval; he just didn't want to have to deal with the argument that would probably follow after he told them to pick a restaurant).

The lady at the check register didn't even blink an eye when he kept putting food on the conveyer. It was obvious that she was used to people buying a lot of food. He paid for the food, (17982 yen!) and took the food out to the car.

He had declined the help to bring out the food to the car, but as soon as he got outside he thought that maybe he should have used it. The number of people outside had increased, and it had gotten even darker than it had been. He had been in the store a lot longer that he thought.

He walked quickly to his car, wishing that it wasn't such an expensive car. All eyes followed him and it was making his nervous. He didn't walk with his head down, however, because he knew that that would just encourage people to come to him.

No, holding his head high he put all of his grocery bags in the trunk of his car. It was then that a couple of people walked up to him. He had been watching them out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't want deal with them.

He closed the trunk and moved to open the driver's door when someone put a hand on his shoulder. On instinct he whirled around and the punched the guy right in the face.

The guy who had been punched wheeled back. He was surprised as hell.

"Get him!" he shouted to the other people. Suddenly Yuki had four people coming at him, the guy's friends apparently. Friends.

Of course. Friends. While fighting with these people, Yuki had the perfect idea of what to get Shuichi for Christmas.

One of the guys landed a punched right in his eye and it made Yuki extremely angry. All thoughts of Shuichi raced out of his mind and he started really fighting. He landed punch after punch after kick on the people and soon they fled, realizing that he was not as easy of a mark as they had originally thought.

Yuki wiped his hands and got behind the driver's seat and drove home. He grabbed a couple of bags and walked into the kitchen. He put away the things in the bags and started to go outside to get more of them when he heard soft crying coming from the bedroom.

Confused he walked up to it. The crying got louder as he got closer. He knocked on the door.

"Shuichi?" he asked quietly. The crying stopped and he heard the sound of someone stumbling around the room. Suddenly the door flung open and Shuichi threw himself at Yuki.

Shuichi was crying and hiccupping hysterically, his tears staining the front of Yuki's shirt.

"What's wrong, Shuichi?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around the smaller boy unconsciously. Shuichi took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down.

"I woke up and called for you and you didn't answer," Shuichi said finally. "You didn't answer," Shuichi repeated. "I thought you had left me."

"Shuichi, I was just at the store. I came back. Don't worry; I'll always come back," he comforted. He held him for a little while before he remembered that he still had things in car. He carefully let go of Shuichi and told him that he'd be right back. He explained that he was just going out to the car to get the rest of the groceries out of the car.

When he came back in with the last eight bags hanging from his arms, Shuichi was standing in the exact same place that he had left him.

"I'm back, Shu," he told him as he walked into the kitchen to put the rest of the bags down. He saw as Shuichi slowly nodded his head in understanding. The groceries were put away quickly and Yuki walked back to Shuichi.

Shuichi yawned.

"Come on, Shuichi," Yuki said as he grabbed Shuichi's hand. He led him back to his bedroom and pushed him into his bed again. He tucked in Shuichi and starting walking back towards the door when Shuichi spoke.

"Don't leave," he said very quietly. Yuki turned around. Shuichi was staring in his general direction. "Please don't leave. Stay with me. I'm so scared that you're going to go away."

"I'm just going into the other room."

"Please don't. Please stay with me." Shuichi started begging and pleading for Yuki to stay with him. Yuki walked to his side. Shuichi could hear him approach and he grabbed Yuki's hand. He jerked him and Yuki fell onto the bed.

"Please, please stay," he continued begging. Yuki took a deep breath and pushed Shuichi over, arguing with his mind that it was all right to sleep in the same bed as Shuichi when Shuichi pleaded with him, especially since they weren't going to do anything bad.

"Fine, I'll stay with you," Yuki said, "just move over so I can sleep too." Shuichi gave a huge smile and grabbed hold of Yuki's hand, as to make sure that he wouldn't leave.

"Thank you, Yuki-kun," he said quietly. Yuki started at the change from 'san' to 'kun', but didn't say anything. Quite quickly, Shuichi's breathing evened out and he grip on Yuki's hand relaxed a little. But by then, Yuki was already asleep too.

The next day a bunch of thumping and banging noises awakened Yuki, jolting him from sleep. Not even thinking to check to see if Shuichi was still next to him, Yuki stood up quickly, thinking that there was burglar in the house. He raced towards the sounds and stopped short when he saw Shuichi in front of him, sitting down on the ground, rubbing his head with a silly grin on his face.

"Sorry, Yuki-kun," he said, when he heard Yuki approach, "I didn't want to wake you up but I really needed to find the bathroom."

"Did you?"

"Yes, I was just trying to find my way back into what I think was the bedroom when I think I made a wrong turn."

Yuki lightly cuffed Shuichi upside the head.

"You're near the kitchen. The bedroom is the other way."

"Oh, oops," Shuichi said, sweatdropping. "Hey, Yuki, I have a question," he continued.

"Yes?"

"What do you look like?" Yuki eye's widened when he realized he had never told Shuichi what he looked like.

However, without missing a beat, Yuki answered.

"Tall, dark, and handsome."

Laughter erupted from behind Yuki and he whirled around to see Tatsuha standing in the doorway.

"You, Bro, tall, dark, and handsome?" Tatsuha dissolved into another fit of laughter. Yuki's eyebrow twitched. It certainly wasn't that funny. Sure he wasn't exactly 'dark', but he tall and handsome. Just ask any number of the girls that he had gone on a date with.

They might call him a worthless, uncaring bastard, but they wouldn't be able to deny that he was tall and handsome.

Shuichi looked confused at the sudden sound of somebody else's voice.

"How the hell did you get in?" Yuki asked Tatsuha. He was absolutely positive that he had locked the door when he had walked in last night. Tatsuha magically produced a key. Yuki instantly grabbed it out of his hand.

"Go ahead and keep it, I made copies," Tatsuha explained. "Wow," he exclaimed as an afterthought, "Where'd you get that shiner?"

Shiner? Yuki thought. Oh yes.

"I got into a scuffle yesterday," he explained, "nothing big."

"Who's that?" Tatsuha asked, noticing Shuichi for the first time.

"That's Shuichi," Yuki told him, "He's going to be staying with me for a while." Shuichi's smile brightened when he heard this. "Oh yeah," he added as he pulled Shuichi up. "He's blind."

Tatsuha's eye's widened.

"Cool!" Shuichi looked relieved that Tatsuha wasn't going to make fun of him for not being able to see.

Yuki sighed, Tatsuha was so energetic.

What was it going to be like when more of his family showed up?

Exhausting.

**End Chapter 13**

I apologize for any errors that there might be.

Wow, I had, like, three quarters of this chapter written the last day I updated but so much stuff has been going on that I havne't actually had the time to write, can you believe that? I visited my University's campus and signed up for classes! Two Japanese classes, Linguistics, Geology and a P.E. class! I'm so excited! As soon as I got home from that (FIVE HOUR DRIVE!), my friend's from Seattle were already here and I hung out with them. And the next day we went to the Bite of Oregon and I got to see The Decemberists live! **FRONT AND CENTER!** Sorry…I was SO happy. I could die happy. The Decemberists are one of my favorite bands. Okay, so then on Saturday my other friend's from Seattle came down and we hung out so I've been massively busy. But yeah…

Now, onto a review of reviews:

Actually, there won't be one. Maybe some of you have got the e-mail that's being passed around about how answering reviews isn't allowed. I don't want this story to get taken off because of that. Now, that being said, the email is a petition, and if you want me to send it to you, leave me your e-mail address…in the form: blank at blank dot com (ex. Kibethan at msn dot com; written out).

But…I THANK EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU FOR REVIEWING! IT MEANS SO MUCH TO ME!

As one more added thing: Fukuyama Masaharu rocks.

Until next time,

Kib-chan


	14. Eep

**Title**: Blindsided

**By**: Kibethan

**Disclaimer**:looks around stuff on bed: I have…A Decemberists C.D., another Decemberists C.D., American Idiot, A giant Fukuyama Masaharu thing that looks like a record but is actually a C.D., a T.M. Revolution C.D., some kanji flashcards, my keys, a giant Pikachu pillow and all of my bedding. Strangely enough, the rights to Gravitation I still have not received. I wonder if Murakami-san has sent them yet…

**Summary**: Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye; so his editor decides to shape him up to seem like a good guy by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by the name of Shindou Shuichi?

**Half-warning**: Beware of swearing, yaoi, and mad out-of-characterness. Sorry about it. But it IS an AU story…:sweatdrops:

**Chapter 14**

**Eep**

Tohma and Mika had arrived at Yuki's house the day before, and man, it had been incredibly chaotic. Yuki couldn't remember the last time that his house had had that many people in it. Tohma and Mika had exclaimed when they saw that Yuki had a black eye, but Yuki had managed to convince them that it wasn't that big of a deal. However, is mind had been whirling because he had had to find places for everybody to sleep.

As he had predicted before, most of the people had ended up on the floor, and sadly, that included him as well. There was only one bed in his house and since there was a married couple staying with them, Yuki had done something entirely out of character and let Mika and Tohma take his bed. This meant though, that he still had to place three people; Tatsuha, Shuichi, and himself. He had one couch and since Shuichi was blind, he automatically it got it.

Yuki and Tatsuha were stuck on the floor in the living room. Yuki had actually had to go out and buy more comforters since there weren't enough for everybody. It had been hell too, since it was getting close to Christmas.

At first, Mika and Tohma had been a little bit unwary of Yuki sharing his house with another male, particularly, an underage male. The look that Mika had given him was so accusing that Yuki knew he would have nightmares for a long time about it. Surprisingly enough, it was actually Tatsuha that had been able to convince the couple that there was absolutely nothing going on between Yuki and Shuichi.

And so here he was today.

Yuki's mind was racing at a hundred miles an hour. He had one day, just one day to find all of the gifts that he needed to get for everybody. Putting off all the gift buying had not been in his plan, but in his defense, a lot had been going on and he just hadn't had the time. The old Yuki would have just said, "screw it", but the new Yuki knew that he had to get at least something little for everybody that was coming to his house for Christmas. This included (but was not limited to) Tatsuha, Mika, Tohma, and, of course, Shuichi.

Mika was going to be easy to shop for. He just needed to grab her some sort of perfume or soap. He almost giggled when he thought about what would happen if she took the gifts to mean that she smelled bad –which he didn't mean, of course.

Tatsuha would also be easy to shop for. That boy was so obsessed with Ryuichi Sakuma that all Yuki needed to do would be to get him a magazine with Ryuichi on the cover and he would freak out. This was if Tatsuha hadn't already gotten the magazine for himself. Actually, Yuki though, it wouldn't really matter if he had. Once when Yuki had gone into Tatsuha's room, he had noticed and remarked on the fact that Tatsuha had more than one copy of the same magazine. Tatsuha had just giggled and murmured, "Ryuichi," under his breath.

Tohma was going to be a little bit more difficult to shop for. He was such a hardass and already had everything that he could ever need. What could Yuki possibly get that would make him any happier than he already was? Actually, when Yuki thought about it, just about anything would make Tohma happy if it came from Yuki. Yuki was quite aware of how much Tohma loved him, even if he himself didn't want him to.

Then there was Shuichi. Of course, he knew exactly what he was going to get Shuichi, but he wasn't quite sure how he was going to go about doing. He sighed. He was going to be on the phone a lot and he knew it. This was, of course, if Mika ever got off the phone. She'd been on practically nonstop since arriving, after, shudder, that accusatory glare, insisting that she call her friends and tell them that she'd arrived safely. Of course, for every friend she called to reassure, it meant an hour on the phone being filled in with the latest gossip.

Yuki thought again to how he had let it get so late. Only one day left? The stores would be absolutely packed. He had thought it was bad when he was going to get that teddy bear for Shuichi, this was going to be way worse.

Yuki sighed again. He was bored as hell and all he wanted to do was procrastinate more, but time was something that he definitely didn't have. A little while ago Tohma and Tatsuha had taken Shuichi out so that they could go Christmas shopping. At first, Yuki had refused; he was becoming more protective of Shuichi than he ever thought that was possible.

Any number of things could happen to them while they were out and about. Eventually, though, Tohma had convinced him that it was okay for Shuichi to go with him. He promised that whenever they were out in public, that he or Tatsuha would keep a hand on Shuichi's shoulder or something. Yuki was happy that he hadn't said he would hold his hand. Even though he knew he was being silly (and a wee bit weird) he felt that Shuichi's hand belonged to him and him alone.

But now what to do? Mika was chattering on the phone with one of the friend's that she hadn't been able to contact the day earlier. Yuki was very close to just kicking her off the phone. But he didn't because he knew that if he did he was incur the wrath of his sister, something he did not want to do. He knew that she had the ability to make his life a living hell, even if Tohma did come to his rescue.

It occurred to Yuki then that he might never get a chance to use the phone. If that happened, then he wouldn't have a gift for Shuichi. That could never, ever happen. He glanced into the kitchen where the phone was. Mika was sitting on one of the chairs, talking her friends while examining her nails.

She didn't look she was going to be getting off the phone anytime soon.

Another sigh escaped Yuki's lips. He would just have to do things the hard way; he was going to have to go out and search for the people he wanted to call down because there was no way he was ever going to get on the phone. And heck, while he was out he might be able to pick up all those other gifts that he needed to get too. He grabbed the phone book that had the addresses of the places that he needed to go and left the apartment without saying goodbye to Mika.

Ten hours later Yuki walked back in the door of his flat. His arms held many bags and there was a sort of smile on his face. He had been quite successful in what he was doing for once. It had taken a while to locate whom he needed to talk to, but he eventually had and everything was all set.

And talk to a lot of people he had. Somehow he had even managed to talk to people that he never thought he ever would have been able to get a hold of or find, and they said that they would come. After he had found everybody to talk to, he had abandoned the phone book in a trashcan, vowing never to carry one around again. Do you know how heavy those things are when you're carrying them around?

The gifts that he had gotten for everybody had been wrapped, so when he walked in the door nobody would know what he was carrying. It was perfect.

He opened the door and walked into his apartment.

"YUUKKII-KUN!" Yuki heard someone yell. He dropped his packages and put his hands over his ears, happy that he had bought nothing really breakable. The yell had been really loud. "YUUUKKII-KUN!" The voice shouted again. Yuki turned just in time to see Shuichi running right towards him with a gigantic grin on his face.

"Guess what, guess what, guess what!" Shuichi started talking really fast. It was a first for Yuki. He couldn't really remember the last time he had seen Shuichi so excited. Even when he had taken him out, Shuichi hadn't been quite this animated.

"Um…what?" he asked, slightly confused.

"I had **so** much fun with Tohma and Tatsuha! They are so nice! We went everywhere and did everything and got presents for everyone! It was so **awesome**!"

Yuki raised an eyebrow and casually tossed a questioning glance to Tohma when he saw him enter the room. There was a small grin on his face that suggested that he had had fun too.

"And then, and then, and then," Shuichi continued, "and then we wrapped all the presents! I even got to help!"

Shuichi's happiness was contagious and soon Yuki found himself smiling, listening –weirdly enough- intently to Shuichi's tale of what they had done that day.

All of a sudden, Shuichi became really solemn. "…and then we came home and you weren't here. When I asked where you had gone Mika-san said she didn't know and that you had left a long time ago. What if you had been hurt? Or what if you didn't come back? I kept thinking that you had left until Tohma had assured me that you would come back--"

Yuki patted Shuichi on his head, startling the boy and causing him to look up fast and stop his rant.

"Silly boy, I always come back," he explained, not for the first time. He was surprised when he saw that tears had begun to form in Shuichi's eyes when he had said he had came home and Yuki wasn't there. He wasn't exactly sure what to do, so he looked over at Tohma, but Tohma had conspicuously left the room.

Sighing, for about the millionth time that day, Yuki wrapped his arms around Shuichi. It seemed to be the best way to get Shuichi to believe that he was, indeed, right there and that he wouldn't be going away anytime soon.

Shuichi relaxed into his arms. Yuki needed to figure out a way to get the atmosphere back to the level of happiness that it had been.

Happiness is addicting and he wanted more of it.

"Okay!" he shouted, unwrapped his arms from around Shuichi. "We're going to play a game."

Shuichi turned his head toward him, confused.

"It's called…umm…SMILEY! The goal of this game is to get people to smile." As anybody would be able to tell, Yuki was making this up as he went and he was having a hard time deciding what to do. Suddenly, it hit him. An evil grin spread across his face.

"Smi…ley?" Shuichi questioned kind of confused. "Wha-?" he was cut off when Yuki tackled him and started tickling him.

"It's like this!" Yuki said, continuing on tickling him. Instantly, Shuichi began laughing as Yuki's hands attacked his sides. He became breathless as Yuki's attack continued. And Yuki was relentless. He wouldn't stop until he was positive that Shuichi wasn't able to breath any longer. Even then, he continued on savagely tickling Shuichi. He only stopped when Tohma walked in the room to investigate the mad laughter that was coming from the living room.

"I win," Yuki said smugly.

Shuichi glared evilly at Yuki.

"That's not fair! You got the jump on me!" Shuichi pouted, crossing his arms across chest. It looked comical, seeing as Shuichi was still lying on the ground and Yuki couldn't help but snicker.

"What's going on, here?" Tohma asked. Both Yuki and Shuichi jumped; they had forgotten that there was another person in the room. Shuichi had an excuse –I mean, he couldn't see, but Yuki was standing facing Tohma and he still forgot.

"Nothing, nothing," Yuki hurriedly said. Tohma shrugged and left the room.

"Nothing going on between them, my ass," Yuki was positive that he heard Tohma murmur to Mika in the other room.

**End Chapter 14**

Sorry that took so long. Two weeks, yikes. Okay, so I got an e-mail a while ago pointing out the inconsistency of Shuichi's background. I apologize, that is purely my fault for forgetting what I had written before. You have to understand that twice I went two months without writing everything, and so I just forgot. As soon as I get my story straight, I'll type it here.

Another thing, I was pointed straight by many of you telling me that that e-mail was fake. I believe you, so from now on, I will continue on doing a review of reviews! I'm sorry about that, it's just, I got that e-mail three times so I started believing it real.

My goal for the number of reviews for this story is 1000. It's a tall number, but I believe that it is doable.

Okay, onto a review of reviews:

**Angelic Scars the bloody angel**: Hehehehheehehe, oh, just wait, **Subo-chan**: Thank you, thank you, thank you for reviewing every chapter, **Annie loves it**: Arigatou, Annie-san, **Shuuichi-chan**: Your English doesn't suck, and if you want to write a review in Portuguese, I can go to an online translator and translate it, **Flame-chan**: I know, I totally agree about the whole feeling appreciated thing. I always felt so happy when I saw my pen-name on someone elses fic, **FullMetalRitz**: Oh man, Christmas is going to be SO much fun to write, **Grimy Grunhilda Grunt**: I know, I know, the beta thing…I'm too lazy to get one. I do kind of need one, though :blushes, **Kloudy Reignfall**: Yeah, it was pretty quick. This one was slower, but hopefully the next one will be up soon, **WhiteLightning**: Yeah, yeah, yeah, tell me another one, **dark5731**: hehehehehehehehe, **Saitaina R. Moricia**: Thank you for sending me that counter e-mail…it really did help, actually, in persuading me how fake that the original e-mail was, **shady gurl**: Yeah, I'm gullible…it's fake, **DarkMetalAngel of Destruction**: Yay! I'm glad that you liked it, **Dagger Maxwell**: Oh man, I heart some of your YuGiOh stories…very much so, **Little Fox Kit**: Yep, yep, all is well now (and I log in every time I sign in), **Lily Evans Potter Black Lupin**: I'm going to go out on a limb and say you like Harry Potter, **Aizawa Sakura**: No worries, I would never forgot about my fanfiction, **Sas**: Hehehe, yay, **checkmarks**: yeah, sorry about the OOC, I just can't…help it…, **PyrokineticFeral**: Oh yeah! He's young…I forgot, oh well. He works as being 16 here, **Ashley Vulpix**: Okies! Noted! Yeah, I figured that one out, **Yuki N Shuichi 4Eva**: There we go. Yay! I'm glad you enjoy it, ** riya-chan**: Yeah, that was an accident. I had been quite lazy, ** Aacire**:sighs: Tatsuha, I heart him, **JasLine**: No, the e-mail said that you couldn't replay to reviews. But I think it's just if that's the only thing you write on that particular chapter, **seiki siree sohma**: I think that that means that you like it, right? Right? RIGHT", **Kei-chan**: WOOT! Leave me your IM name and I will IM you…unless I already DO talk to you and I just don't know it, and if that's the case, gomen nasai, **Elements**: heheheeh, You reviewed. I heart your reviews. So, so, much, **Ashcat**: Will never forget about this fic; it's always in the back of my mind, **Autumn Days**: YAY! I'm so glad that you liked it! Reviews are Heather's happy power, **Tiki-chan**: 17982 yen is approx like $160-180 USD, **Ruby631**: Bathroom? Wha-? And yes, I figured out it was a hoax, **-Cookie- Tohma 911:** That would be possibly the coolest thing, unfortunately, that would end this story far too soon, **Sailor Epyon**: Awww, that's too bad, Japanese is SO much fun, **Cookie-unlogged**: It might or it might not be, I have to decide, **Syaoran is kawaii**: but you eventually did check! Yay, **Chiyoku Shibata**: Yay! My fic is unique, **Devin**: When I decide to make them; you can't rush these things, **Almighty SABE**: hehehe:drools: Yuki and Shuichi. There is almost nothing better, **xo-silent-whispers-ox**: Fukuyama Masaharu isn't quite like Gackt. But he is still quite cool (to me, anyway), **Mistress of the Sand**: Yay! I'm glad that you like, **Chiba Lae**: I would have Shuichi question him, if you could see it…but he doesn't really know it's like that…

That's it! Remember! Reviews are Heather's happy power! Please review! I'm going to Bumbershoot on the 5th :drools: I'm so excited!

This is Kib-chan, signing out!


	15. Mistletoe anyone?

**Title**: ブラインドサイデド

**By**: キベセン

**Disclaimer**: If I owned the rights to Gravitation there is a very good chance that I wouldn't have spent about one hour trying to loft my bed in a dorm room. As it happens, I did FINE on my own until I needed to put part of the bed on the other part. When that happened, I marched next door and asked if one of the guys living there would help me. One of them did. See, yeah, in that convoluted story I've told you that I don't own Gravitation.

**Summary**: Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye so his editor decides to shape him up to seem like a good guy by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by the name of Shindou Shuichi?

**Half warning**: Swearing, AU, OOC, yadda, yadda, yadda.

**Chapter 15**

**Mistletoe anyone?**

"What the hell?" Yuki thought as he awoke the next morning. Green and red decorations surrounded him. As far as he could remember, none of that had been in his house the night before. So what exactly had gone on? Yuki stood up and, after brushing the pine needles out of his hair, marched straight to his bedroom to confront Mika and Tohma. He was sure that they had something to do with it.

He burst open the door with enough force to wake a forest of hibernating bears –heck, he could even hear the neighbors about him yelling at him to be quiet- yet, the married couple remained asleep. This could only mean one thing: they had stayed up **late** the night before. And Yuki had a good idea of what they were doing too.

Of course, his loud banging hadn't woken up Tatsuha or Shuichi either, so they had probably been in on it too.

But, in the spirit of Christmas, because, after all, it _was_ Christmas, Yuki decided not to wake them any of them up. Besides, a quick glance to his alarm clock next to Tohma's head told him it was hardly 6:00 a.m.

What was he doing up at 6:00, anyway? He couldn't figure it out. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried to he couldn't fall back asleep. After thirty minutes, he swore under his breath and sat up. Sighing, he walked back into the bedroom formally known as his and picked out some clothes.

Yuki walked into the bathroom, and after deliberating for a while, decided to take a bath. Bathes were so relaxing and it was his last ditch effort to fall asleep, even if it was under the disguise of trying to wake up.

It didn't work and soon Yuki was all dressed and ready for Christmas.

A thought crossed his mind. Yuki raced back into the living room and sure enough, there was a Christmas tree standing in the corner and Yuki wasn't quite sure how he hadn't noticed that it was there earlier; it hadn't even occurred to him why there were pine needles in his hair. Beneath it was what seemed like hundreds of wrapped presents. Much to Yuki's surprise, even the gifts that he had gotten yesterday were under there. Thank goodness he had had them gift wrapped at the store, or else his family would know what he had gotten them.

Yuki heard a knock resound at the door. He whipped around looking for a clock. What time was it? He knew pretty well who it was. Where they there early? Everyone else was still completely asleep. The knocking kept on going at the door. Yuki quickly walked to the door and opened it. Standing in the doorway was none other than Ryuichi Sakuma.

Yuki let out a sigh.

"Hi, Yuki!" Ryuichi said, Kumagorou in his hands. "Where is everybody? Where are they! Why did you call me yesterday? I thought you had forgotten that I had given you my phone number when we saw you in the hospital room! I'm so glad you called! Who is this brother of yours who you say is obsessed with me? Oh yeah! You mentioned that Shuichi-chan was going to be here too! Is he? Is he!" Ryuichi was talking at a million miles an hour and switching topics like mad. Yuki found himself briefly wondering why Tatsuha was so obsessed with this guy.

"They're still asleep…" Yuki explain carefully.

"WHAT! It's Christmas morning! Wake them up! Wake them up!" Ryuichi immediately went into the living room. Upon seeing Shuichi, Ryuichi screeched in excitement. "It's Shuichi! It's Shuichi!" Ryuichi started dancing around.

Surprisingly, Shuichi stayed asleep. He must've been very, very tired. Tatsuha, on the other hand, woke up.

"Huh, what was that?" Yuki could hear Tatsuha mumbling to himself, "that sounded a lot like," Tatsuha looked up, "RYUICHI SAKUMA!" Tatsuha's eyes flew wide. He started hyperventilating, and for a second, Yuki was sure that Tatsuha was going to pass out.

Ryuichi was regarding Tatsuha with interest. He gave a questioning glance to Yuki. Yuki just nodded. Slowly, Ryuichi approached the hyperventilating boy. Tatsuha stopped breathing completely.

"Are you Tatsuha?" Ryuichi asked him with uncharacteristic calmness. Tatsuha nodded. Ryuichi gave a smile. "Hi! I'm Ryuichi Sakuma! Your brother called me and told me that you would love to meet me! I didn't realize that you knew Tohma! I probably would have met you earlier. On the other hand, why didn't you ever try to meet me through Tohma?" Ryuichi asked, his cheeriness coming back. Yuki snickered. Tatsuha had asked Tohma to set up a date with Ryuichi and him –well, not _date_ persay, but, like, a meeting. But Tohma had refused, saying that it wouldn't be good for both of them. Tatsuha would pass out from Ryuichi's peppiness and Ryuichi would be sad that Tatsuha had passed out.

But Yuki had gone behind his back. Screw Tohma, Yuki was doing something good for his brother.

Ryuichi was continuing on talking like a maniac to Tatsuha who was starting to turn blue from lack of oxygen. Yuki noticed and walked up to his brother.

"Dude, remember to breathe." Yuki said behind Tatsuha's ear. Tatsuha nodded and gulped in some air. Ryuichi had finally stopped talking, realizing that Tatsuha's brain was still back on, "Hi, I'm Ryuichi."

"Are you okay?" Ryuichi asked Tatsuha. Tatsuha nodded. "I'm sorry. K-san tells me at times that I'm a little overbearing. Do you want to hold Kumagorou? It'll make you feel better." Tatsuha promptly fainted from happiness. Ryuichi looked down at the boy with a confused expression. "Hey? Are you okay?" He knelt down and tried to wake him up.

Yuki had watched the whole thing from the sidelines. Yep, he had definitely done the right thing when he had called Ryuichi. He had been a little bit worried at first that he would have a repeat of what happened in the hospital room (Shuichi and Ryuichi fainting), and, he had to admit, he was kind of halfway there (Tatsuha had fainted), but Yuki knew he it was the right thing anyway.

Yuki heard some more knocking on the door. Unless it was Christmas carolers (and Yuki heard no song), it would be _them_. Yuki glanced over to Shuichi. He was still asleep. Yuki debated whether to go and wake him up or not, but the knocking on the door persisted and Yuki decided that he better not leave guests standing out in the cold.

Ryuichi even paused in his attempt to wake up Tatsuha to see what Yuki was doing. Yuki opened the door for the second time in the day. Standing in the doorway bearing gifts were two people.

Hiro and Suguru.

"Where is he?" they both asked immediately. Yuki pointed onto the couch on the living room.

"He's still asleep; I think you two should go wake him up."

They nodded and walked over to their sleeping friend. Well, they hoped that he would still be their friend. Hiro and Suguru both nudged Shuichi at the same time. Shuichi remained asleep and Yuki vaguely wondered exactly how long it had taken them to decorate around him. He also wondered how the hell he hadn't woken up.

A scream shook him out of his thoughts. His mind understood when his eyes focused on the giant hug that Shuichi was giving Hiro and Suguru at the same time. Tears of happiness were shining in Shuichi's eyes. He knew who they were, and he seemed to be very happy that they were there.

Yuki went into the kitchen to let Shuichi reunite with his friends and Ryuichi try and wake up Tatsuha who was still passed out on the floor. Making breakfast seemed like the best thing to do at the time.

All the commotion had finally woken up Tohma and Mika and they walked into the living room in their pajamas with robes on to see what exactly was going on.

"Ryuichi?" Tohma spoke with surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Yuki-san called me as a Christmas present for Tatsuha-chan…" Ryuichi trailed off and looked at the boy he was still trying to wake up. Tohma looked around, trying to find Yuki. Yuki stole a glance into the living room and upon seeing that Tohma was trying to locate him, ducked back into the kitchen.

Yuki rummaged through the refrigerator and came to a very startling discovery. They're food supply was, at best, minimal. Having so many people in his house was beginning to suck him dry and Yuki knew immediately that they didn't have all the supplies that they needed to make a Christmas dinner. He would be fine to go without it, but he knew that his sister would never go for not having a feast.

Yuki wracked his brain and the only thing that he could think of to do would be to run out to the store. What store, though, would be open on Christmas morning? Well, he didn't exactly need to run out at that exact moment. He had enough food to make a decent breakfast for everybody, and he would have to wait until after everybody opened their gifts (Shuichi and Tatsuha had already gotten their presents from him) before he went out. It got dark early, so going out would most likely happen at around lunchtime.

Tohma walked into the kitchen with a stern look on his face. Yuki, however, didn't notice; he was still trying to figure out where to go to get all the food that he needed. Tohma cleared his throat and Yuki wheeled around, all thoughts about getting food forgotten.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Why did you invite Ryuichi?"

"It seemed like the perfect gift for Tatsuha. Besides, he had nowhere else to be. Would you want your own band mate to be alone on Christmas, Tohma?"

Tohma had nothing to say to that and left the kitchen in a huff. Yuki knew that he'd simmer off and be cool again. He was just a little pissed at the moment for being undermined.

Yuki finished making breakfast for the eight people. There wasn't enough room to eat in the kitchen and Yuki didn't really have a dining room –he lived in an apartment usually by himself- so breakfast was going to have to eaten in the living room.

"YUUUUUKKKKKKKIIIIIIIIII!" Yuki winced as he heard his name reverberate around the apartment. He was almost finished dishing everything up and so he ignored the yell. Yet, the person yelling his name didn't stop. It was quite the contrary, actually.

The vein in Yuki's forehead gave a loud throb. He almost started shouting obscenities towards the person until they continued talking.

Or rather, Shuichi came bursting in the kitchen, knocking over Christmas decorations, and he threw his arms around Yuki.

"Thank you so much! Hiro and Suguru just told me what you did! This is the happiest Christmas present that you could've **ever** given me!" At that Shuichi started giggling. Yuki had to smile; he had known it was the perfect gift, but it didn't really hit home until Shuichi had told him so.

Yuki patted Shuichi on the head and pushed him back into the living room towards his friends.

It had been incredibly difficult for Yuki to track down Hiro and Suguru the day earlier. He had gone to the orphanage and found out that Hiro had been old enough to move out, and so he had. Suguru was still there (he was only 16, after all), but he had been in a music lesson and hadn't been there. Also, Suguru was the only person who had known where Hiro was living.

The nuns didn't even know. They had the address to where he had moved as soon as he moved out of the orphanage, but he had since moved out of there and had told nobody except Suguru. And, of course, as was said before, Suguru was in a music lesson and not to be disturbed.

Even when Yuki had finally met Suguru, he was reluctant to tell Yuki where Hiro lived –who wouldn't? Yuki looked like a weird criminal. Luckily, though, for Yuki, Hiro had come in to visit Suguru at that exact moment and Yuki was able to talk to them.

When Yuki had finally met the two of them together, he was surprised to learn that they were fairly normal. For some reason, he'd been expecting them to be evil mean people. And, at first, it had seemed like they were like that. Yuki had been all ready to do a guilt trip to get them to come, but he was pleasantly surprised to find that he didn't have to. As soon as they found out that he had tracked them down as a present for Shuichi, they immediately said that they would and they asked him what time that they should show up the next day at his apartment.

Yuki finished dishing up the food and called everybody into the kitchen to come and get it. He may have made it and served it up, but he'd be damned to act like a maid and give them the food too.

Tatsuha had finally woken up and so he got his food. After breakfast, which everybody greatly enjoyed, the opening of the presents was to be commenced.

They took turns opening up the gifts one by one. Sure, it was a process that took a long time, considering the number of gifts underneath the tree, but it was one that kept things from getting too hectic.

Especially since Shuichi had a little bit of trouble opening his presents and seeing them. So, every time that he opened one, Yuki would explain to him what it was and what it looked like. Hiro would then try and relate it to something that he might have been able to see so he would be able to imagine what it was.

It was a good system until he opened a present that Yuki didn't want to have to explain. He immediately glared around the room, trying to figure out who had given Shuichi such a gift. It was sex toy. Not only was it a sex toy; it was a sex toy that was supposed to be used between two males. Never mind that Shuichi was too young for it to begin with.

Shuichi just sat there with a confused expression on his face while Yuki faltered trying to decide what to tell Shuichi it was. Yuki heard snickering coming from Tatsuha and immediately turned his glare to him. As soon as Tatsuha saw the glare, he burst out laughing.

Shuichi was still massively confused. He ran his fingers down the length of the item.

"It feels kind of like latex…" Shuichi said. "What is it?" Yuki turned an uncharacteristic bright red.

"It's, um, it's…uhhhhhhhh…" he couldn't figure out what to say. A lot of the other houseguests were trying –unsuccessfully- to hide their laughter by now. Sure they didn't exactly consent giving such a gift, but they thought that Yuki's reaction was absolutely priceless.

"I know what it is! I've used one of those before," Ryuichi piped up, thinking that no one could figure out what it was, "It's a sex toy!"

Shuichi turned bright red and politely thanked whoever got it for him for getting it for him.

Yuki decided that Shuichi was just too polite for his own good. After Shuichi opened a present, it was then Yuki's turn to open one. He grabbed the nearest one, opened it, took a look at what was inside of it, checked who gave it to him (he already knew), then took a dive at Tatsuha.

"What?" Tatusha exclaimed as he was tackled, hands trying to get around his neck to choke him. "They're a pair! They go together! Just like you two!" At that he dissolved into a fit of giggles.

Yes, what Tatusha had given him was the second part to what he had given Shuichi. Eventually Yuki calmed down after Tatsuha had started turning a blue color in the face. Nobody had tried to help Tatsuha, figuring that he deserved it.

The opening of the presents continued after Yuki had climbed off of Tatsuha. Yuki was pleased to find out that no one else had given him, or Shuichi, anything else embarrassing that he'd have to explain what it was.

By the time that everyone had finished opening up their gifts, it was around lunchtime. Yuki remembered from before that they didn't have enough food for lunch, let alone dinner and so he announced that he was going to run out to get some groceries, if anyone would like to come with him. It was something that he didn't want to have to do (get groceries), but knew that he had to.

Mika didn't volunteer to go with Yuki, but she volunteered to clean up the wrapping paper that was strewn all over the room. Yuki knew that he had been on her good side ever since she had opened up the gift that he had gotten her. That perfume was **so** expensive to buy, so she had rarely bought it for herself but she absolutely loved it.

Everybody else except Shuichi also volunteered to help clean up. Yuki knew that Shuichi hadn't volunteered because he didn't think that he'd have been very much help. But Shuichi **did** volunteer to go with him shopping, to keep him company.

So, after they had gotten all bundled up, they set out. Shuichi wasn't wearing as many layers as Yuki, but when Yuki confronted him with it, Shuichi said that he would be fine. Yuki just shrugged and hoped that that would be true. Yuki opened the front door and was surprised to find that it was snowing. Shuichi felt the snow on his face.

"Oh, Yuki," he sighed, "It's a white Christmas."

The snow had piled up in the driveway where Yuki was parked and he was much, much too lazy to shovel it, so they walked. Shuichi was okay with that because they were, after all, bundled up. He put his hand out and Yuki grabbed it and started leading him through the snow to the nearest grocery store (which was fairly close).

Unfortunately for them, it was Christmas. This meant that the store that would usually be open for 24 hours was open no hours. This also meant that they were going to have to find another place to shop.

"Don't worry," Yuki consoled a steadily growing colder Shuichi, "the next grocery store isn't too much farther away."

Yet, the same thing was true for that grocery store. And the next one. And the next one. Hell, the next three grocery stores that they tried were closed. Finally, after walking an extra hour they came across one that was open.

The _one_ person who was on duty was quite surly for having to work on Christmas day when everybody else had gotten off. In a quite literal sense he had gotten the short end of the stick (they had drawn straws).

Yuki and Shuichi didn't care though; they were happy to be out of the cold. However, the happiness of the person working there ended up being directly related to the amount of food that was stocked on the shelves. Never had Yuki seen a store so empty. Almost everything was gone. There were pretty much only obscure foods left.

"You should've come here earlier," was the persons response to when Yuki asked him where all the food went.

Even though Yuki had wanted to give his guests an at least semi-traditional Christmas dinner, it didn't look like that would happen. Grabbing whatever he could of the shelves he decided that he was going to have to make do with whatever was there.

Bacon, bread, chicken wings, meatballs, celery (even most of the vegetables where gone!), rice, and eggs were the only real things left. Yuki figured out that he could make fried rice with the bacon, rice, and eggs –with some of the spices that he had in his house thrown in. Then they could have chicken wings, meatballs with barbecue sauce, and celery as side dishes. For dessert Yuki managed to find some pocky.

It would have to make do. Yuki grabbed enough so there would be plenty for everybody and then he brought it to the cashiers. It had been a little bit awkward for them, since they were the only people in there.

"Will this be it, today?" the guy asked. Yuki gave him a curt nod and paid for it. They only had two hands since Yuki was still leading Shuichi around. So Yuki could carry things in one hand, and Shuichi could carry things in the other. Yuki equally distributed the weight of the grocery bags and gave one of them to Shuichi. He then grabbed Shuichi's other hand and led him out of the store; they were on their trek home.

The snow was starting to fall harder and the temperature had dropped a couple of degrees. Before long both of them were absolutely freezing; even though they were bundled up, they were shivering like mad. Shuichi was shivering even worse than Yuki since he didn't have on as many layers. The only thing that kept Yuki moving was the fact that he **knew** that he had hot chocolate at home. In fact, he had quite a lot of hot chocolate at home because he always kept buying it thinking that he didn't have it.

Yuki's hands were becoming numb –even with gloves on- and he almost dropped the groceries that he was carrying. He stopped moving and Shuichi almost ran into him. Yuki grabbed all the groceries out of Shuichi's hand because he figured that Shuichi's hands were just as cold. Shuichi thanked him.

Because they were so cold, they started walking slower and slower so it was taking longer and longer for them to get home. Shuichi gave a final shiver and then collapsed into the snow that was forming around them, his legs having lost all of their strength.

Yuki dropped the groceries and then dropped to his knees.

"Shuichi?" he questioned.

"S-s-s-s-so c-c-c-c-c-cold," Shuichi stammered out, his teeth chattering. Yuki turned around so that his back was facing Shuichi.

"Get on my back," he instructed. Shuichi, rather awkwardly because he couldn't see, managed to climb onto his back. Yuki had put down the groceries and guided him on. When Shuichi was firmly attached to his back, he picked up the groceries and continued walking towards his apartment.

Shuichi snuggled closer into his back. Yuki's steps started getting slower and slower. His whole body felt numb. When he was sure that he was going to collapse, he caught sight of his apartment.

With reserved strength, Yuki stumbled towards the door and opened it. Once he was inside, he collapsed with Shuichi still on his back.

Everybody looked at them when they entered. They would never admit it, but they were getting more and more worried at what was taking so long and were about five minutes away from sending out a search party. Even Ryuichi was worried that something bad had happened to them.

Immediately Tohma and Hiro led Yuki and Shuichi into the bedroom to get changed out of their wet clothes into dry ones. Tohma dried off Yuki and dressed him in layers of flannel while Hiro did the same for Shuichi.

While they were getting into different clothes, Mika had taken up the duty of putting away all the food that they had bought. Suguru had helped her and both of them admitted to Yuki when he emerged from the bedroom that they were a bit surprised at the food choices that he had made. When Yuki explained that there had been no other food in the store and what he had been planning on making, they nodded and immediately told him to go sit down in the living room, saying that they would make it, but they might ask for more help later. Yuki gasped, asked them if they were kidding and, when they said that they weren't, happily made his way into the living room.

Someone had started a fire in his fireplace and he was quite glad. Shuichi was currently sitting beside it, so Yuki went and joined him.

All of a sudden, Yuki heard a squeal of delight come from behind him. Yuki turned around just in time to see Tatsuha bearing down on him. Quick as a flash, Tatsuha pressed Yuki and Shuichi's heads towards each other.

"You two are under the mistletoe! So you have to kiss!" Tatsuha explained excitedly.

Yuki, in too much shock to reply, felt his lips connect with Shuichi's. Shuichi gave a squeak of surprise and then, **much** to Yuki's surprise, relaxed into the kiss. Pressing his lips harder against Yuki's. Yuki then did something that he hadn't been planning on doing. He didn't pull away. He closed his eyes and went deeper into the kiss.

When they finally had to come up for air, Yuki and Shuichi backed away from each other. Shuichi's legs gave out and collapsed to his knees. Gently, he put his fingers to his lips.

The atmosphere at that time was so thick that you could slice a sword through it. Ryuichi, though, didn't notice at all.

"That looked like fun! Come on Tatsuha-chan!"

"Huh?" Tatsuha asked intelligibly.

Ryuichi grabbed Tatsuha before he could say another word and skipped over towards the mistletoe and planted a firm kiss on Tatsuha's lips. Not for the first time that day, Tatsuha fainted from happiness. Ryuichi looked at him in confusion, yet again, wondering what had happened.

"Why does that keep happening?" he asked nobody in particular.

"Now," Mika said, wiping her hands on an apron she'd found as she walked out of the kitchen, "Who else wants to help us make dinner?"

**End Chapter 15**

WOOOOOO! They've kissed! What will happen now, I wonder? And what was that between Ryuichi and Tatsuha? Is there going to be a pairing between them? We'll see! Okay, guys, that was about twice the size of a regular chapter. I did this for a couple of reasons. The first reason being that I like writing around Christmas time. The second reason is sort of an apology for taking a couple of weeks to update.

Now, for a quick update on why it has taken Kib-chan so freaking long to update. FIRSTLY, she was the happiest that she had ever been in her life on September 5th. Okay, time to stop referring to myself in third person. Here's what happened: I went to Bumbershoot (Giant-ass music festival: **Lots** of bands). Now, my absolutely favorite band, The Decemberists were playing there. We got there early enough that, while we weren't front and center, we were still front (my friend who is more obsessed than I am as front and center). It was an AWESOME concert. Now, while we were waiting around for the next band to start –a couple of hours, we were also waiting for our other friends to call. I hear my friends whispering beside me where I'm sitting (and we're sitting by a path) and they're whispering about Colin Meloy, who is the lead singer of the Decemberists. I look up, and sure enough, there he is. My friend so boldly called out, "COLIN!" and he turned around. I died, right there, and right then. He is to me what Ryuichi is to Tatsuha, if you get my drift. He is SOOOO cool. ANNNNDDDDDDD…the icing on the cake…I got a picture with him! It is a HORRIBLE picture of me, but I don't care! It's with me and him! ANNNDDD he took the picture, so he was holding my camera :huggles camera:. If you wish to see said horrible picture of me, check out my livejournal (Kibethan) I'm not sure which date it's under, but it's under a livejournal cut with lots of pictures that I took that weekend. Including some better pictures of me.

Also at Bumbershoot (I only went one day, it lasts all of labor day weekend), we saw Ted Leo & The Pharmacists and Tegan and Sarah (or however you spell it). The Ted Leo concert was VERY loud and some of my friends hated it and left. I, however, liked it so I stayed between the people all squished and such.

Okay, yes, that's one of my excuses. Ready for my other excuse about why it's been taken so long. Here it is: I moved…again…

Yes, while writing Blindsided I have moved twice. Now, this time, it was JUST me. I moved into my dorm room in my college that's 5 hours away from my home if you drive. I now, officially, live in Bellingham, WA. I moved in yesterday and earlier today I was sucking up wireless Internet at the mall. I didn't have the chapter done yet, or else I would have posted. My roommate hasn't move in yet, but I DID just meet one of my suitemates and she seems very nice. I'm debating on going and getting dinner but I'll probably end up just eating crumbled up giant cookie since getting food would involve walking around and it's getting dark and scary.

**Note** (written later): I did end up going out and getting dinner. I walked about…2 miles? To a place called "Tokyo House" where I got Gyoza and Bubble Tea. It was slightly light on the way there, however, on the way back…it was DARK…and freaking SCARY. There was a section of the sidewalk that had bushy bushes on one side and cars on the other and it was pitch black. I walked in the street during that part. I think most people now are at a thing in a different hall, but I'm not sure where that is, so I'm staying here.

**NOTE** (written later than the first note): I just HAVE to say this. My RA came by and was picking up people to go to the thing at the different hall and I said, "why not?" and went with him. I got to play apples to apples with a bunch of anime people. How did I know they were anime people? Well, besides the two people wearing Megatokyo shirts, they just have a sort of air about them and I fit in well. I also met this other dude who was quite awesome to say the least (don't think he was into anime though) but at least he was from my hall. On a different floor but, meh, he was from Brooklyn. What was he doing in Bellingham?

OH! And I've decided that 1000 reviews is too tall. As much as I WANT that and would do just abut ANYTHING for that, I know it's not going to happen because there just aren't quite enough chapters left. :sighs: Oh well, maybe next time.

Onto a review of reviews:

**Kitinu**: I'm so flattered! You reviewed my story, **Annie loves it**: It's coming, it's coming, I swear, **suckers love**: Because it is so, so, cute, right, **WhiteLightning**: Sweet! Strange looks, **Chiyoku Shibata**: You mean, like he is in the anime, **Yuki N Shuichi 4Eva**: I probably would except it's not going to be that much longer, **rebelyell59**: WOOT! Thank you, **Aacire**: AHAHAHAHAHAHAH, I don't remember, but your review might have given me the idea for this chapter, **Elements**: heheeheheh, I talked to you at the mall…, **Ashcat**: Yep yep, it's awesome, awesome, ne, **Grimy Grunhilda Grunt**: I swear, if you're online next time I write one, I'll send it to you first, **DarkMetalAngel of Destruction**:chokes on fluffiness of this chapter: Was this enough, **Sailor Epyon**: You speak Chinese? That is so cool! The only thing I know is Nihao…, **KinOfDragons**: See, sometimes it's cute to be OOC, **xunxin kohaku**: I thought that it would be a good way to end the chapter, **seiki**: Yays! I'm glad that you like it, **JadestarBoo**: Well, ya know, I can do some wonderful things…hahahaa, **pikapikaryuchan**: I wish I could, I wish I could, **Devin**: I hearteth the tickling, **JasLine**: Oh man, I can't wait until next chapter, **Kloudy Reignfall**: WOOT! I started an addiction, **Subo-chan**: hai, hai, **Tiki-chan**: YAY! You reviewed! And, who knows, maybe it's not as impossible as it seems, **Quack says the duck**: I try, I try, I REALLY do. And, I'm starting to update more often, kind of, **Angelic Scars the bloody angel**: Shhhhh, don't point out my many mistakes that I forget about…:sweatdrops, **Prodigy's Child**: I have sisters reading it too? Are you the older or the younger, **Flame-chan**: YAY! I'm glad you like it! I'm glad you put this story in your C2 too! You get a virtual Ryuichi plushie for that, **Sock rocker/Sakura Minamino**: Funny you should mention school. I'm on the internet right now when I'm not quite sure if I should be…my computer hasn't been set up yet…, **Sas**: Yes, yes, pass it around. It is a fun game, **DemonicDragon666**: Yay! I'm glad that you like it, **xo-silent-whispers-ox**: But you reviewed it! YAY, **-Cookie- Tohma 911**: Heheehehe, sometimes its fun for Tohma to be a devil, **FullMetalRitz**: I got my internet back today! Hopefully for a while, **animefreaktyan**: phew! For a second I thought I was going to get a flame1 But instead I got a 10/10! Awesome, **Ashley Vulpix**: Kind of, skipping Christmas Eve and went right to Christmas, **Aizawa Sakura**: Impossible but doable? Is that kind of like…learning to fly? I know, and I know I can't get it, as much as I want it, And, yes, I know you wrote a thousand, **Miss Ichigo**: Yep yep, I know he's OOC too…, **dark5731**: Yay! I'm glad you got to review it though, **Syaoran is kawaii**: Seriously? Isn't that so cute, though?

That's it! I'm sorry that the author's note is so freaking long; I just thought you guys deserved to know why it took so long.

And, one more thing:

I'm thinking about changing the summary of Blindsided for when it shows up on the websites? You guys have any ideas? If I use your summary (which I might or I might not) I'll give you full credit.

-Kib-chan


	16. Banned

**Title: **Blindsided

**By**: Kibethan

**Disclaimer**: I do not, under any circumstances, own the rights to Gravitation. Man, I wish that I did, but I do not.

**Summary**: Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye, so his editor decides to shape him up by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by the name of Shindou Shuichi?

**Half-warning**: Meh, the usual. Minor language and OOCness…

**Banned**

**Chapter 16**

Yuki sighed as he dipped his hands into the soapy water. Washing dishes had never been his strong suit, but here he was, forced to do something that he didn't want to. And why? Because the second that the December 26th had hit, all of his relatives had up and left to go back to Kyoto, Ryuichi had left to go and visit K, and Hiro and Suguru had taken Shuichi out for the day.

That meant that he was left alone. And blast it! Mika hadn't done dishes the night before, claiming that she was too tired and would do them in the morning. Of course, just as Yuki suspected, that hadn't happened.

He dipped his hands into the water again bringing a sponge up to wash the pot that was too large to fit in the dishwasher. Most of the dishes had been put into the dishwasher, but even the machine had it's limits and soon it was all filled up and Yuki was left to do the rest of them, lest they never get done.

His mind wandered. It wandered back to the day before when he had been forced to kiss Shuichi. No, given the choice he definitely would not have chosen to kiss Shuichi. Yet, as much as he would never do it on his own, he was glad that he had. It had been one of the more enjoyable times of his life as of late.

And he had to admit, as much as he tried to keep his mind from going there, he had often found himself wondering what it would be like to kiss Shuichi. The boy had just looked so delectable. But he had refrained, the age difference between them never leaving his head.

What was he going to do now, though? Not kiss Shuichi again, that was for sure. Yuki slammed his hands into the water in frustration, a little bit of it splashed up and hit him. There was nothing he could do.

Yuki was letting his mind wander some more when the phone rang. Forgetting that his hands were wet, he walked over to answer it. As soon as he touched the phone he remembered the soapiness of his hands, but by then it was too late. With a furrowed nose he talked into the receiver.

"Hello?" He asked. Expecting a –relatively- quiet reply he was quite surprised when he heard someone shouting loudly in his ear.

In fact, they were shouting loudly. Incoherently. That coupled with the fact that he couldn't understand their voice very well, so he couldn't figure out who it was, was seriously starting to annoy him.

Yet, he would try a calming approach.

"I'm sorry, what? Who is this?"

"What the **hell** do you think you were doing!" the voice replied. Yuki could hear somebody crying in the background. "He's 17 for Christ's sake! How could you possibly think that it would be okay to **do** something like that! Where was your logic! You're never allowed to come back here again!"

Yuki had had enough of this vocal abuse. There was only so much being yelled at he could take before he yelled back. He had even gone farther than his normal point, but he could take it no longer.

"Go **where**? What are you **talking** about and who the hell **are** you!"

"Fucking gay pedophile!"

Yuki slammed the phone down, not about to take another verbal onslaught from somebody he didn't know. Him? Gay? Possibly. A pedophile? Hardly. Kids definitely were not his cup of tea. Yet…

…could the guy possibly have been talking about Shuichi? There was no way that he could've known about the kiss though. Tohma and Mika would never, ever, tell anybody. Neither, he was pretty sure, would Tatsuha. Ryuichi was a hard person to read, but despite his seemingly obliviousness, Yuki was pretty sure that Ryuichi would not tell anybody either, except maybe K, but K wouldn't tell anybody.

All who was left was Hiro, Suguru, and Shuichi. As much as he wanted to believe that they would never tell anybody, he could never be too sure.

There was always that crying in the background that needed to be explained and, for some reason, couldn't be. His wet hands were long, _long_, forgotten.

The phone rang again, and Yuki was reluctant to pick it up. It could be important; yet, it could be whoever had called him, calling him a bad person again. Yuki couldn't take any more of that. The phone continued to ring. Over and over and over. It was like his editor calling him when she had been informing him that he would be working at the hospital.

What if the person calling him was his editor? Yuki decided that he would answer the phone, but if he started hearing people yell at him, he would hang up immediately.

"Hello?" he asked tentatively. "Who is this?" The person didn't answer. "Hello?" he repeated, over and over. All of a sudden, much to his surprise, on the other side of the line he could hear someone crying and other people trying to comfort the person. It would've seriously pissed him off –so many weird calls!- if he hadn't recognized the two voices trying to calm the crying person down.

Even if he hadn't known then for very long, he definitely recognized the voices of Hiro and Suguru. Pieces of the puzzle started to click into place. If Hiro and Suguru were the two comforting voices, then the person that was crying was most likely Shuichi.

And, unless there was huge coincidence, the person crying was probably the same person who had been crying in the background of the call with the very angry person. Not many people would know what Yuki's phone number was, especially people who could ban him from a certain place, so the number of people who could have called him was being slowly narrowed down.

After making a list of places where the trio of boys might have gone and then checking it against the people who knew his phone number, there was only one person that fit the list.

Ezaniya.

It was Ezaniya that had called him to tell him all those things. Ezaniya had called him a "fucking gay pedophile". It all hit Yuki like a ton of bricks and Yuki's hand released the phone. He didn't even register that it had fallen until it bounced on the carpet and onto his foot. Even then, he barely felt it.

Ezaniya didn't want him to go back to the hospital. If he couldn't go back to the hospital, then he wouldn't be able to fulfill his volunteering thing for his editor. When his editor found out about the not being allowed in the hospital, then she might decide that Yuki wasn't worth the trouble anymore.

And what about Shuichi? It that truly was Ezaniya, then there was no way that he would let Shuichi come back to his house. Yuki remembered the crying over the phone, the way Shuichi had hiccupped a little. For some reason, just the thought of Ezaniya making Shuichi cry filled him with rage.

It was just a little misunderstanding after all. Ezaniya didn't want him to come to the hospital? Well then that was exactly what he was going to do. He was going to force Ezaniya to listen to him, no matter what.

Now with a mission, Yuki grabbed his coat and marched out the door, leaving the phone still on the floor, and the dirty dishes still in the sink.

When Yuki arrived at the hospital, he marched inside, but was immediately kicked out by the security guards. Up until then, he was sure that there was a chance that he was wrong and that it had been some completely different people who had been crying and yelling at him and calling him bad things. The sight of the guards, though, out to get him convinced Yuki that he had been indeed right. Apparently Ezaniya had figured him out and knew that he would try to come to the hospital.

Yuki tried and tried to fight back; to be able to get in, but it was all to no avail. The security guards at the hospital were strong and just kept on throwing him back out into the street. Yet, Yuki had kept coming back, determined to get in to talk to the doctor. Just when Yuki thought that they were going to relent and let him in, they threatened to arrest him instead and Yuki definitely didn't want that to happen.

With defeat written all over his face, Yuki turned and started walking home. As he got closer and closer he started to think really hard –as he had been doing for most of the day. The old Yuki would have never taken no for an answer; he would have demanded to see Ezaniya, to explain his side of the story.

Come to think of it, the old Yuki would've never kissed –even if he was forced- a seventeen year old boy. As Yuki thought more and more, the cold glint that had used to be in his eyes returned. **Nobody** misunderstood him and then didn't let him explain his side of the story.

Yuki whipped around and marched back towards the hospital. As he expected, the security guards were there and they were more than ready to take him down and arrest him. As soon as they saw him, they whipped out their tasers, in their minds he had been giving fair enough warning and he was probably going to start resisting arrest.

Yuki didn't care. Yuki just set his mind on the place that he needed to be and continued walking. His distinctive change in behavior shocked the guards, but didn't stop them for long. Soon they were after him, hot on his tail. They knew that if they let him get away, it would mean their jobs.

Yet, Yuki still didn't care. He just picked up the pace and, by some stroke of luck, he managed to slip into the elevator just as it was closing. He had no doubt that they knew he was going to get off at the fifth floor to go to Ezaniya's room, so he decided to get off on the fourth floor –fourth floors are the coolest floors anyway- and take the stairs to the fifth floor.

By taking the stairs Yuki managed to avoid the guards because, just as he had thought, they were waiting for him to exit the elevator. Mentally grinning Yuki walked to Ezaniya's office. Without bothering to knock on the door, Yuki burst in. He could hear voices on the inside so he knew that there was somebody in there.

With an icy glare on his face, Yuki looked accusingly at Ezaniya.

"Yuki! What are you doing in here?" Ezaniya asked him. Yuki didn't answer but just continued to glare at him. His eyes only once leaving him to scan the room to see whom else were in there. Just as he had imagined, it was Shuichi and his friends.

Hiro and Suguru seemed quite shocked to see him, and Shuichi looked quite shocked to hear him. There was some relief of Shuichi's face as well, though.

"I asked you a question, Yuki, what are you doing here?" Ezaniya repeated.

"Why the hell did you call me all those things!" All calmness on the doctor's face left and his face took on the same stony glare that Yuki's held.

"Because they're true, Yuki-san! What the **fuck** were you thinking? He's underage! I could have you arrested!"

"For kissing him underneath the mistletoe? It's a Christmas tradition! Not to mention I was practically _forced_ to do it! Or did you not hear that part?"

"Oh no, I heard that. But that doesn't change the fact that you did it! I can't believe I ever let you play with the kids in the kid's playroom!"

This was not going as Yuki had planned. He had thought that he and the doctor would be able to have a nice calm chat together, but as soon as Yuki had seen him, he had been filled with instant rage.

A knock sounded on the door.

"Come in," Ezaniya said. The door opened and in stepped the nun. It was the same nun that had begged Yuki to take Shuichi in, but, this time, when she saw Yuki she started muttering prayers under her breath. After she had finished, she took in a deep breath.

"Shame on you!" she scolded him. "Kissing an underage blind boy! I must take this child and bring him to the church so he can get rid of his sins so he'll still be allowed in heaven! When I first let you take Shuichi in, I had **never** expected that you would do something so horrible to him!"

Yuki stopped listening to the nun and looked fully at Shuichi for the first time since arriving in the office. He was sitting in his chair, his eyes were directed down and he was shaking slightly. Even though his face was directed down, Yuki could see dry tear tracks on his eyes. It was almost more than Yuki could take.

"Why are you here?" Yuki asked the nun, hollowly.

"I've come to take Shuichi. We're going to find another home for him, a home that won't sexually abuse him!" Yuki's mouth gaped open.

"Sexually…abuse? I barely kissed him! There was no touching involved! How the hell was that sexual abuse!" Yuki had tried so hard not to yell at the nun, but she was making it extremely difficult.

"You were on step away from picked him up and carrying him to the bedroom so you could have your way with him! I know it! Don't try to play the victim here, Yuki! Shuichi was the real victim! That's why I'm taking him with me!"

Shuichi put out a strangled sob and Yuki looked at him.

"Why did you tell them, Shuichi? Why did you tell them about the kiss!"

Shuichi hiccupped. Tears started falling out of his eyes again.

"I was really happy about it. I thought that they would be happy for me. I never thought that they would react like this," Shuichi said through hiccups.

Yuki came to realization that there was no way he was going to be able to get Ezaniya to change his mind, no matter how much he debated with him. Yuki kneeled down to Shuichi's level.

"You made a bad choice, Shuichi. And sometimes those bad choices end up affecting you worse than you could have ever imagined. Bye, Shuichi. Forever."

With those parting words, Yuki stood up and left the room.

**End Chapter 16**

Sorry for the long time between updates, guys. That has got to be the fastest two months of my entire life. That being said…oh my gosh! It's been **ONE YEAR** today since I started Blindsided! Isn't that wicked!...and a little bit scary? I have to mention. I have thrown a little bit of my life into this chapter. Well, only a little. The part about fourth floors being the best floors –that IS true. I live on the fourth floor of my dorm, and we are the coolest floor, by far. The part about the police carrying around tasers…well, here's what happened. Last week a guy on shrooms jumped off the third floor of my building (we enter from the outside, so it's really easy), at 2 a.m. and landed on the side and sort of fell onto a some bike racks. The police came and tried to make sure he was okay, but he started biting them, blah, blah, blah, so they tasered him. Like. 10+ times. Yeah, so that's why I said that.

Onto a review of reviews:

**Grimy Grunhilda Grunt**: It's a little bit scary, cause Christmas is now in only one month! I can't wait until Christmas! WOOCHA, **FullMetalRitz**: Sorry it wasn't that long of a chapter. Next chapter I'll try and make it longer. **PyrokineticFeral**: Well, of course Ryuichi is like that. **Tiki-chan**: I love the Decemberists way too much. I mean, I have three full length CD's and three EP's. **Ashcat**: I think I'm getting more street smart. **suckers love**: I want Yuki to do my homework; that would be SO cool! **Flame-chan**: WOW! I'm so glad that you think that I'm so good! That seriously makes me want to squeal out loud! **xo-silent-whispers-ox**: Seriously, though! Man, I need to start wearing sweatshirts and more clothes. It's starting to get really cold. A couple of days ago, I tried to get myself used to the cold weather by wearing only a t-shirt, and I ended up only turning numb instead. **DarkMetalAngel of Destruction**: Come on, now. There is no such thing as too much happiness! Okay, so there is. But still! **Redroseprincess678**: Well, I can say that I've never done it blindfolded. But…it might be a little while before we get to the, um, sex part between them. **Kloudy Reignfall**: Yeah, sorry again for the super long author's note. I tried not to! But, I just felt I needed to explain why it had taken so long. **rebelyell59**: Thank you! I'm so glad that people liked that chapter! It had been a long time in the coming…if that makes any sense whatsoever. **Sailor Epyon**: If Ryuichi were to kiss me, I have to say I'd probably faint, too. I mean, seriously now. **Quack says the duck**: Does the duck say quack? Hehehee…sorry, that's an awesome name! I'm glad that you enjoyed it! **Aacire**: Hmm, I'd have to think. I think that Hiro might have been in the room, but everybody else wasn't. And there's a bee trying to get in the window, and it's a little bit creepy for me. **shuxyuki**: Well, I do try. And I did manage to get them to kiss. I have no idea how I did that. It _has_ been 15 chapter though. **GravityNeko**: Sometimes, you just can't talk your way out of things, which is sad because I always try to do that. **dark5731**: Man, people really liked that chapter! I'm so glad that you thought it was good! I love it when people like my stories! **Almighty SABE**: With any luck, there will be more Yu/Shu and Ryu/Tatsu…of COURSE there would be. Where would I be if there wasn't? I'd be so sad. **WhiteLightning**: Well, he probably has, you have to admit, right? Ryuichi acts all innocent, but we know the truth. **Shirubaa Kitsune**: Cherry coke! Yummy! I wish there wasn't caffeine in Cherry Coke, because I've been trying to cut as much caffeine out of my diet as possible! **DemonicDragon666**: I'm so glad that you liked it! **To-think-of-a-nice-name**: Well, wouldn't you faint too? I certainly know that I would. And there might be a little bit of Hiro/Suguru. **Subo-chan**: I'm glad that you liked it! **Syaoran is kawaii**: Yeah, that does pose a bit of problem, doesn't it? **Assassin of the Shadows**: I definitely try for cute. It's what I try to do the most. Because cute is so cute, ne? **ayu**: Yes, relatively soon I need to have Shuichi not be blind. Well, maybe. I still haven't decided if I wanted to do that yet. **ro-buddi**: I knew it! You're a bad influence on me! That's why I keep thinking about all those sex toys and sex and hardcore yaoi and such! **KagomeGirl21**: Yay! I love it when people like my story! I'm going to have to take a wild guess and say that you like Inuyasha. **–Cookie-Tohma 911**: I'm so glad that you liked it! Your name is so hard to type. **Sock Rocker**: One would only hope, alas, that was not to be. **Ashley Vulpix**: Well, can't rush things, you know. **Lina Hino**: I stopped because my hands got tired of typing. Like they usually do. **Devin**: I concur! **animefreaktyan**: Yum…hentai…AHAHHAHA..I kid. That's awesome, though, that you liked this chapter. **Elements**: Curse you Japanese, Geology, and Linguistics! See! I can curse my classes too! **Burning Sky**: Ditto. I'm not that big on Gravitation fanfiction either. **Gemini**: Well, thank you very much! **Yuri Yuki**: When I finally get the time to do stuff, like, write. I is a busy person. **goodthingI'mimmortal**: well, I'm glad that you liked it as far as you got. That's got to say something, right? **jimmy-kudo's-girl**: I am to ask. Who is Jimmy Kudo? Famous person or a "special someone"? **gokuthesaru**: Duh, Katie, duh. But, that's part of what makes him lovable, right? **Daisuke fan**: That's because those two stories are awesome! **Aizawa Sakura**: By golly! You're right! I think it's one of those practice makes better sort of things! **Loyal fan**: Well, I'm certainly glad that you liked it.

That's it!

If you're ever bored, IM me at Kibethan on AIM, or Kibethan at msn dot com for msn messenger. I'm almost always online. Like now.

Kib-chan


	17. Caught

**Title**: Blindsided

**By**: Kibethan

**Disclaimer**: Sweet, library! Wireless internet is SO nice. Oh, um, yes, I don't own Gravitation. I haven't own Gravitation for any of the other 16 chapters. No, Murakami-sama didn't randomly give it to me…yet…

**Summary**: Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye, so his editor decides to shape him up by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by the name of Shindou Shuichi?

**Half-warning**: Woocha! Beware of cursing, slight oocness, typos, bad grammar, horrible cliffhangers, etc.

**Chapter 17**

**Caught**

Not for the first time in the past weeks, Yuki stormed out of the hospital. Just like before, he was 100 positive that he would never, ever be going to back in there. No matter how much he enjoyed the kiss, and he knew that he did, there was just no way he was going to ever go back there. Somehow, he was going to force Shuichi from his mind.

Ezaniya had been right. Shuichi was a minor, and as such, it was slightly perverted to be kissing him. So why was it so difficult to convince himself of this? There was a slight part of Yuki's brain that refused to be ignored that kept telling him that he needed to be with Shuichi. That Shuichi was going to be 18 soon anyway, and he could wait until then.

Even though that side of Yuki refused to be ignored, the dominating side of Yuki was just as stubborn and refused to admit that the other side could possibly be right. In his mind, Yuki was blaming Shuichi for telling Ezaniya. Yet, Yuki reasoned, Shuichi couldn't have possibly known that that would happen. Yuki figured that Ezaniya was the closest thing to a father that Shuichi had, so Shuichi probably told him everything. Telling him about the kiss had just been second nature.

But Yuki refused to go back. The door slammed as he entered his apartment, his mood having an influence on everything around him. Much to his disappointment, however, it looked exactly the same as it did when he had left it that morning. He had hoped that maybe with his new view on life, things might have magically changed. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting…maybe, like, his furniture to have changed color, or something.

Turning to his right, he saw the phone that he had been talking to Ezaniya on earlier that day. He glared at it, hoping that it would explode. If he had never answered the phone, then maybe, _maybe_ he wouldn't have had to leave Shuichi. Yuki cast his eyes down. No matter what he did, he couldn't get the thought of Shuichi out of his mind.

Everything in his living room reminded him of Shuichi. There was nothing he could look at that wouldn't bring him painful memories. Actually, it wasn't so much that the memories were bad –quite the contrary, in fact; Yuki hadn't been that happy in ages. It was more so when he remembered the **good** times he would remember what happened shortly after, and that was almost too much for him to bear.

Feeling the memories stifling him, Yuki walked into the bedroom, hoping to get away from the Shuichi in his head. Yet, as soon as he laid eyes on his bed, all hopes of Shuichi being gone were dashed from his head. Remembering how Shuichi had lain there, Yuki tucking him under the sheets, Yuki couldn't take it anymore.

He was going to do something that he hoped that he wouldn't regret.

If someone were to look on, they would think that Yuki was doing something incredibly stupid, but he knew in his head that it was the only way to get away from Shuichi. Grabbing his keys and wallet, he walked out the door-

-only to get punched in the head.

Yuki fell to the ground, stunned.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"

Yuki shook his head, trying to clear his brain. Whoever had punched him had been strong. If they wanted money, well, they could have it. Yuki knew that he didn't have the skill to defeat someone who could down him in one punch.

"WHAT THE **HELL** WERE YOU THINKING!"

Yuki furrowed his brow. What **had** he been thinking? He couldn't remember, the only thing currently in his head was the pounding headache. Yuki struggled to stand, but his legs buckled under his weight and he fell back to the ground.

"Stand UP and FIGHT, you bastard!"

Yuki almost screamed in frustration. Couldn't the person see that he was trying his hardest to stand. And he was. Yet, every time he was almost on two legs his knees would buckle and he would fall to the ground.

"…Yuki-kun?" the person talking seemed to be finally noticing his plight. Yuki frowned. How did the guy know his name?

"Jeez, I didn't hit you that hard, did I? Are you alright?"

Now Yuki was really, really confused. He had been convinced early that he was being mugged, but now he was finding out that the person knew who he was…and it almost sounded like they were worried about him. Yuki blinked a few times, trying to get his eyes into focus…

A person with long reddish hair was peering down onto him.

"Yuki-kun? Are you alright?"

It was Hiro.

Yuki finally got his mouth to work.

"I'm…fine…" he replied. He was about to ask why he was hitting him when Hiro bombarded him with words.

"Good you BASTARD. What were you THINKING? Saying that to SHUICHI! Somehow –we're not sure how- Shuichi has run away! He can't even see! Ezaniya had the entire hospital searched for him, but he somehow got out of it! Something seriously bad could happen to him! If he did manage to get out of the hospital, he could walk into the street and get hit by a car. He could run into a person and they could attack him! Why did you say that to him?"

Yuki's mind finally started to clear a little bit. He couldn't be sure, but it seemed to him like Hiro was yelling at him about abandoning Shuichi, when Shuichi talking to Ezaniya had been what caused him to be in this horrible situation in the first place. He was about to retort when it finally hit his brain what Hiro's entire point had been.

Shuichi was missing.

All of the breath in Yuki's body left him in a quick rush, and the ability to stand that he had recently been able to do again, left him as well and he collapsed to the ground. Even though he really didn't want to, Yuki couldn't deny that he was worried sick about Shuichi.

Especially not with a reaction like that.

After a few moments, Yuki was able to stand again, and when he did, he wheeled around and went back into the house. This was no time to be petty about not wanting to think about somebody; Shuichi was physically missing and needed to be found.

Hiro wordlessly followed him inside.

"Did you guys call the police?" Yuki asked Hiro.

Hiro scoffed, "Who do you think we are? Ezaniya is so incredibly protective of Shuichi, the first thing he did after he tried to find Shuichi himself was to call the cops. Mind you, it hasn't been very long, so the cops aren't too worried about not being able to find him, especially since he wasn't kidnapped."

"Do you know anywhere that he might go?"

Hiro gave Yuki a look of disbelief. "Do you think I wouldn't haven't checked those places even if I had known of any? Besides, Shuichi might have some idea of where he is, but because he's blind, he could never be quite sure. So, no."

Yuki set his wallet on the counter in the kitchen. He wracked his brain for things that Shuichi could have done. Frustratingly, none came to mind. He walked into the living and started pacing. Options of things that he could do were few and far between, and that was what annoyed him the most.

Shuichi was missing and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. Furthermore, it had been him that had caused Shuichi to be missing. If he had never said those things to him, Shuichi would never have run away. Guilt wracked his body.

Or maybe he was being too egotistical. Maybe the reason that Shuichi had run away had absolutely nothing to do with him. Yuki laughed under his breath; even though it was been brief and forced, Yuki could tell from the kiss that Shuichi did have some feelings for him. He'd have to be blind to not notice.

Besides, Hiro hadn't punched him for no reason.

With determination, Yuki decided that he was not going to just pace around and wait for something to happen. He was doer(1) darnit!

He was about to confront Hiro with his new change of mind, when the phone rang. Without missing a beat Hiro answered it.

"Hello?"

Yuki started to reprimand him for answering somebody else's phone when the look on Hiro's face grew absolutely solemn.

"Oh."

If it was even possible, Hiro's face darkened even more.

"I see. Well, we'll be right there." Hiro hung up the phone without saying bye and walked towards the door.

"Wait, wait, wait," Yuki started, "What was that about? Who **was** that?"

"Ezaniya."

"Then there's NO way in hell I'm going. Don't think I didn't notice that 'we'll'."

"Yuki-kun, this is very important. Shuichi has been located."

"That's a happy occasion. Why are you saying it like it's such a bad thing? It's not a bad thing, right? Why don't they just go and get him?"

"I don't want to tell you here; we need to go now. TRUST me."

Now, Yuki was always hard of trusting; in other words, it took a long time for him to trust anybody. But someone was telling him to trust him on the same day when he had knocked Yuki over with a strong punch. His entire intuition was telling him not to trust Hiro.

The look in Hiro's eyes, though, was enough to convince him completely that he was to be trusted. He had the same raw determination that Yuki had had only minutes earlier.

"Okay."

Closing and locking the door behind them, they walked to the hospital in silence.

It was quite a long walk to be silent for, and Yuki found himself wondering if Shuichi would be able to be silent for such a long time. Of course he wouldn't be able to. Once you got to know him, Shuichi was a talker. Yuki knew that Shuichi would talk about all kinds of crazy, crazy, things.

But he also knew that he would listen to every single thing that Shuichi had to say.

Yuki could stand the quiet, however. Being a writer, he had always been accustomed to having quiet all around him. It stimulated the brain, allowing it to wander wherever it wanted. It was how he was able to think of the most amazing situations in his books.

Snow crunched beneath his feet. It was hard to believe that it was still winter. It seemed like so much time had passed since he had meet Shuichi, when in fact, it hadn't been more than a few weeks. It was just that so many things had happened; never in his life before had so much stuff happened to him in such a short amount of time.

"We're here."

The sound of Hiro's voice startled Yuki out of his thought process. Yuki bit his lip and he crossed the threshold into the hospital. He had swore that he was never going to go back in there, and here he was breaking that again.

As he and Hiro got closer to Ezaniya's room, the fact that there were police there become more apparent.

"What's wrong?" Yuki asked Hiro. "Why are so many police still here?"

Hiro looked at him dead on.

"Because, we received a ransom note and a picture from a Polaroid camera taken not too long ago. Shuichi was kidnapped. By Taki."

**End Chapter 17**

(1) So! Who watched Grey's Anatomy for the last couple of weeks! (SOO GOOD!) Remember the "Meredith is a doer" sort of thing. Yeah, that's why I added that there. Oh man, I can't believe I'm addicted to Grey's Anatomy.

This is the part where I grovel on my knees and beg your forgiveness for taking so long, yadda, yadda, yadda. I realize it's been a long time. Now, this is where YOU have to be forgiving and realize that **I** am taking two Japanese classes from hell, a chemistry class from hell, a math class that's generally annoying (but not from hell), and that I just found out TODAY that one of my friend's has been quite angry with me. Although, the only way I could figure it out was because he never acknowledged me…but I thought it was just because we had grown apart. Turns out that I had somehow managed to thoroughly piss him off. But, since I inquired about it, I was able to set it straight.

I wish people would TELL me when they're mad at me instead of me having to ask.

Oh well, I'm glad it's better between us two again.

Back to the groveling. Okay, so, in the chemistry class from hell, I had chemistry homework that I missed 12/35 on (and that was the class average x.X). And it took SO long to do, I spent LONG hours at the library.

Long story short. You know that little rumor that going to college/university is hard? Guess what, it's NOT a rumor. This is, seriously, the soonest that I've been able to update because I've been so busy. I'll try to update sooner next time.

NOW!

Onto a review of reviews:

**Redroseprincess678**: Now, it's not that the christian's are so bad…just the really hardcore scary ones…, **DarkMetalAngel of Destruction**: Sweet! Your reviews are always short but sweet, **tammy-love**: Woocha! Glad you enjoyed the chapter, **Takki**: Wow, a cliffhanger hag, I've never been called that. :laughs: I am a cliffhanger hag. **Flame-chan**: hehehehe, I'm glad you liked it, **Grimy Grunhilda Grunt**: I'm glad that you liked your letter! Did you like, um, the penny? And dime, **DemonicDragon666**: Sorry it wasn't that soon, **Ashcat**: Ah, yes, a lemon. I would have to plan in major advance to write that. Because I would have to research, etc, **Aacire**: I'm glad that you liked the chapter, **Tiki-chan**: If you want overdramatic, go to college…trust me, you are not being overdramatic, **PyrokineticFeral**: Want to know a secret? I did too…, **JadeStarBoo**: Wow, a lot of people have it out for the doctor, **To-think-of-a-name**: Yes, yes I am evil. :giggles evilly, **c4ndyp4nts**: I PROMISE the next update will come sooner, **ddz008**: Wow, that was a LOT of smiley faces, **Julie C**: Gotta love da angst, **dark5731**: THANK you! I 3ed my 1 yr anniversary, **Quack say the duck**: HAHHA, I STILL think that your name is hilarious. Thank you for the review, **amyrose300**: I promise I shall update sooner next time, **Shirubaa Kitsune**: Serious about what? Can you even remember, **Subo-chan**: Yeah, yeah, sorry for the long time between updates, **FullMetalRitz**: Wow, I'm glad that you like this story that much, **cutelilpuppieyez**: Well, apparently my immediately is…almost 3 months later, **shuxyuki**: A flame! OH NOES, **Kloudy Reignfall**: Will he ever get the chance? Will he ever get the chance…, **goku-the-saru**: Katie! I saw you at Uwajimaya! Totally unexpectedly too, **Bram**: hecks no, **siriusly delusional**: Alas, Christmas has already passed…, **windchaser90**: Oh ye of little faith, **Elements**: SWEET! I 3 your review…as always…, **GravityNeko**: Awww…daijobu, **WhiteLightning**:grrrriiiiiiinnnnnn, **Ashley Vulpix**: Yep…Shuichi no baka, **Lily Evans Potter Black Lup…**: hehehehee, **Sailor Epyon**: I know! Ryuichi is SO awesome, **mariella**: Sorry it wasn't quite so soon…, **Natalia/ricstar**: Trust me, I am quite tired as well…, **xo-silent-whispers-ox**: Now, really, do you think that Yuki would be suicidal, **Tenshi wings**: Thank you, **baka-onna2003**: Gomen, gomen…, **penguinie**: Everyone loves a helpless uke, ne, **seiki**: I'm glad you like it so much, **liz**: oh! I get it now, **Syaoran is kawaii**: Can't really blame you for forgetting since it definitely doesn't happen that often anymore, **Saitaina R. Moricia**: Yeah…I hate it, but I do have some plot holes that I'm going to have to sew over when I have the time, **Burning Sky**: Both are awesome one's that I use quite frequently, **Essenity**:sighs: I'm willing to admit that I will probably never get to 1000 reviews. But I'll try, darnit! I'll try, **lazy fat kitsune**: Your pen name is SO awesome, **Riku Harada Lover**: So is Riku. In fact, for a while I was going to cosplay her at Sakuracon, **-Cookie- Tohma 911 **: Maybe I speak my mind too much. SORRY, **xShiroi: **Things are not always as they appear…, **Prodigy's Child**: I know, people overreact to often, **Eiri Yuki**: Of COURSE I'm going to continue it, **Artemis Maxwell –Yuy**: Yeah, sorry it's taking so long to update, **tati1**: I think I replied to you back and explained my giant mess I've made for myself? Sorry again if I have, and sorry for the first time if I haven't, **itsasledgehammer**: ALMOST legal, but not quite. Not in my AU land, **megatoescorpse01**: what a…loverly name…, **gaiaguy**: Wow, for YOU, my update IS pretty soon. (the next day!)

And that's a grand total of…a LOT of reviews!

If it starts to be too many, I might start just replying to the signed reviews using the "reply" button, and then I'll reply to the other ones here!

This is Kib saying…OVER and out! (and saying sorry if there are any mistakes)


	18. Hostile

**Title**: Blindsided

**By**: Kibethan

**Disclaimer**: The only things I have right now are these blasted hiccups! …meaning…I do not own Gravitation…besides buying 12 volumes of the manga and some of the dvd's…

**Summary**: Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye, so Yuki's editor decides to shape him up by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by the name of Shindou Shuichi?

**Half-warning**: Beware, you know, the usual. And the usual (as you should know by now) is a) swearing, b) yaoi, c) slight ooc-ness, etc, etc. Also, this story is rated M for a REASON. A REASON.

**Chapter 18**

**Hostile **

There was no distinguishable way to describe how Yuki felt when he found out that the person who had tortured him relentlessly when he had been in the orphanage had kidnapped Shuichi. Sure, he was shocked, but how do you define shock? A sudden or violent mental or emotional disturbance (1)? It just wasn't _strong_ enough of an emotion to describe how Yuki was feeling. No single word was.

All of the pages in the longest book in the world –even with the tiniest print- would not have been able to describe how he was feeling.

If he were to be asked, though, at a later date how he had felt, he would have said that his heart had literally felt like it was being ripped out of his body and that he was watching the thing that had pulled it out eat it…slowly. Slowly killing him on the inside.

Pure energy ran through his body, even though he was frozen solid. His mind was trying to think of things he could do to help, even if his body wasn't responding. After a few painstaking minutes, Yuki heard a voice calling his name, snapping him back to reality.

"Yuki! Are you all right? Did you hear what I said?"

Yuki shook his head against the noise, and the voice almost started to speak again, to say what Yuki already knew, but refused, deep down, to acknowledge true. He didn't want to hear it again.

"STOP!"

The voice cut off its speech instantly. He felt somebody put his or her hands on his shoulders, trying to snap him out of his funk, but just Yuki stood with his head in his hands trying to sort out all of his thoughts. It was no easy task, but eventually he got his mind into order. One thing that had sunk in, however, was something that he had completely forgotten about, but now that he remembered, could not get out of his head.

Hiro had mentioned a ransom.

Yuki snapped his head up and the hands on his shoulders came off of them instantly. Yuki, still not quite seeing where he was going ran headlong into Hiro. Even while helping to pick him off of the ground, he was questioning Hiro about the ransom, instead of apologizing for knocking him down.

When Hiro told him that Taki had left a phone number, in an instant Yuki had his cell phone out and was dialing the number –only to remember that he didn't actually have the number, and that he was just dialing some random person.

"Hello?"

A funny look of horror crossed his face when Yuki realized that he had pressed the talk button on his phone. He –quite uncharacteristically- squeaked and hung up on the person, hoping that whoever it was wouldn't have caller ID and try to call him back.

As soon as the phone predicament was over, the gravity of the situation came crashing back down on top of Yuki, and he almost fell to the ground from the weight. Hiro watched the change on Yuki's face with interest, but he could tell as soon as Yuki remembered that Shuichi was missing.

Without missing a beat, Hiro led Yuki into Ezaniya's office.

"Hello, Yuki-san," Ezaniya greeted, the malice and bite in his voice from earlier in the day completely gone. "First, I would like to apologize to you about how I acted earlier. I was completely out of line when I judged you and Shuichi and I hope that the carelessness of my words and how horrible I was doesn't ruin the trust you had for me forever. I understand totally if you are still mad at me –I completely deserve it- but I hope that someday you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

Ezaniya finished his monologue and stared into Yuki's eyes. By doing so, he was letting Yuki see into him, to see the sincerity of his apology. Yuki was shocked. Usually he was never one to forgive and forget easily, but unfortunately he had little time for anything else. Shuichi had to be found and saved before something horrible happened to him.

Taking a deep breath, Yuki said that he forgave Ezaniya.

"And now for the important stuff," Yuki continued, "What is Taki's phone number and how much is the ransom?"

Ezaniya and the nurse looked at each other and nodded before Ezaniya answered.

"That's the thing, Yuki-san, the ransom is 40,000,000 yen 'for a slight broken but not dead' Shuichi. The 'slightly broken but not dead' doesn't worry us that much, I mean, we're a hospital! However, the 40,000,000 yen does. We just don't have that kind of money to pay for the ransom." Ezaniya hung his head, "we were actually kind of hoping that maybe you…"

"I'll do it," Yuki replied to the question that he knew had been answering. "Even though it will almost wipe me dry of money, I am willing to pay if it means I will get the chance to apologize to Shuichi for yelling at him –again." Yuki continued under his breath, "If Shuichi dies before I get the chance to apologize to him, I will never _ever_ forgive myself."

"Good deal, Yuki-san."

"What is the phone number?"

When Yuki hung up the phone from talking to Taki, he was shaking with anger and a few stray tears were running down his face.

"_Yuki-san! Help me! HELP ME!"_

Shuichi's pleading cries would not leave his mind. Yes, he had talked to Taki and they had set up an exchange time, and it was, of course, your basic hostage situation. Yuki was to come alone –that meant no cops and absolutely no wires. The money was to be dropped off and, in good faith, (Yuki had guffawed at that), Taki would hand over Shuichi.

Of course, the place where Yuki had to go to drop off the money was very dangerous. It was the stereotypical abandoned warehouse on a wharf, and as much as Yuki truly did **not** want to go there, he knew that if he didn't Shuichi would be killed. How did he know this?

"_If you don't come to the drop-off location at exactly midnight tonight, I will kill precious little Shuichi."_

Taki had told him. But then, Taki had continued in his description of what he would do to Shuichi.

"_Oh no, I won't just kill him, I will have some fun with him first. You know what I'm talking about, don't you Yuki-san. Oh, how beautiful Shuichi's skin will feel underneath my own. His voice is already hoarse from screaming so much: 'Yuki-san! Help me! HELP ME!' When he screams for us to stop, it will be the one of the most beautiful sounds in the world. The most beautiful thing of all, however, will be the pure unadulterated fear that will be in Shuichi's gorgeous sightless eyes." Taki moaned and Yuki had to stop himself from breaking the phone in half. "Would you like to talk to him, Yuki?" Taki said breathlessly. "Well, you can't," he continued without stopping, "his mouth is currently busy doing something else, if you know what I mean." Taki started laughing. Yuki could hear a cracking noise and the sound of Shuichi screaming in pain. It broke his heart. "His spirit was already broken, so he gave in easily. Anyway, I'm monologueing. Show up at midnight here, or your lover gets it." And with that parting thought, Taki hung up the phone._

Yuki was still shaking as he thought of all the torture that Shuichi was going through. He couldn't help but blame himself for putting Shuichi through that. After all, if he hadn't yelled at Shuichi, then maybe Shuichi wouldn't have run away and gotten kidnapped.

He needed to set things right.

With a quick explanation to the group in Ezaniya's office, a plan of attack was established and soon Yuki was on his way to the bank. The plan of attack was nothing special, Yuki was just to do exactly as Taki had instructed. If Yuki had stuck around a little bit longer, he would have heard the people start to plan something else.

The bank blanched when Yuki took out all the money and they threatened to close his account until Yuki had given them his glare of death. Then they just shut up and handed him the money.

Finally, Yuki was ready.

Midnight couldn't come fast enough for Yuki, who just wanted to get the exchange over with, then head back to his apartment with Shuichi safely tucked between his arms. As he was driving to the warehouse, part of him was reflecting on the fact that because he was spending all the money to get Shuichi back, he would not have enough money to make it anymore. His mind kept trying to convince him that Shuichi wasn't worth all that money and that he should just turn around and go back to his apartment.

The other side of him, however, won the battle. Screw the money, Yuki could survive on instant ramen until he got another book written. He could do it, and he was willing to do it.

Up in the distance, Yuki could see the warehouse looming. He rolled down the window and the smell of sea air wormed its way into the car. He could hear the waves crashing against the poles that the wharf was situated on.

After he had parked his car, he grabbed the bag with all the money in it and walked towards the warehouse. His heart started beating faster as he got closer and closer. What if Taki didn't keep his end of the bargain and just killed both of them and then took the money? Or worse, what if Taki did what he threatened to do to Shuichi and tied up Shuichi to make him watch.

No, that would never happen. Yuki would absolutely not let that happen. With a steely look in his golden eyes, he decided that he would rather die than watch Taki rape Shuichi. Yuki got to warehouse door and looked at it. He almost started to open it before he decided that maybe it would be a good idea to knock first, since the people who were taking the money had guns and were probably trigger happy.

A few moments after he knocked a big burly man opened the door. A huge whiff of a the smell of fish came pouring out and Yuki had to do his best not to throw up instantly from the odor. The man –who seemed completely unaware of the smell around him- asked Yuki who he was. With complete confidence in his voice, Yuki told him who he was and why he was there.

The man stared him down for a while, then decided that Yuki was indeed who he said he was and he let him in, looking around to make sure that nobody had seen Yuki walk in. After doing a full body search on Yuki (which Yuki was _not_ pleased at all to do) to check for wires, he deemed Yuki satisfactory. The burly man closed the door and Yuki was surrounded by complete darkness.

Is this what Shuichi saw everyday? He didn't know if he would be able to take not being able to see anything. Yuki found new respect for Shuichi.

Shuichi, right, that's why he was here. Yuki was about to call out to the pink-haired boy –who knows, maybe he was there?- when the lights flooded on. After a few seconds of squinting, letting his eyes adjust to the light, he saw someone (who he assumed was Taki) standing in front of him. What caught his attention more, however, was Shuichi kneeling in front of him, facing Yuki, with tears flowing freely down his face onto the gag that was in his mouth; his head was bowed.

"How nice of you to join us, Yuki-san," Taki began. Shuichi's head sprung up at the sound of Yuki's name, and Yuki could tell that Shuichi was desperately trying to hear him; the fish aroma around him had badly distorted his sense of smell. "Did you bring the money?"

"I did," Yuki said, breaking his silence. Yuki could see as Shuichi started shaking his head in a 'don't give them the money, don't give them the money' kind of way. There was no way he would do that. He **needed** to save Shuichi.

"Drop it over here on the ground, then slowly walk away," Taki instructed.

Yuki shook his head, "Give me Shuichi first, then I'll give you the money." There was a greedy look in Taki's eyes and he decided whether or not to give him Shuichi. Finally, slowly, Taki nodded and he picked Shuichi up by the scruff of the neck and threw him at Yuki.

"Now give me the money!" Taki screamed, a certain lust for cash growing in his eyes.

"Fine, here's your blood money," Yuki spat out in disgust. He tossed the sack of money at Taki, and then turned to run away, pulling Shuichi with him.

A low cackle came out from somebody behind him and Yuki felt as a shiver went down his back. He pulled Shuichi closer to him, feeling the danger all around and wanting to protect the teenager as much as he possibly could.

"Oh, you're not going anywhere, Yuki-san." Taki said quietly. "Do you really think that I would give Shuichi up that easily?"

From behind him, Yuki could hear someone cock a gun. He gulped. He had figured that Taki would try to do something like this, but that didn't mean that he was properly prepared.

"Oh yes, I will have fun playing with little Shuichi. I don't, however, need you here."

Yuki heard the shot being fired. Pain blossomed in his side, and his left side pitched him onto the floor. He put his hands to his side and when he looked at the blood that was quickly leaving his body. Black started edging into his vision. The last thing he heard before he passed out was Shuichi screaming his name and somehow he also managed to hear the waves continuing to pound themselves up against the poles.

**End Chapter 18**

(1) definition taken from the website of Miriam Webster.

Woot! Guys! Guess what! There is only one more chapter of Blindsided left and I will post it in ONE WEEK, exactly. On the 4th of April. Just you guys wait.

So, I went to Sakuracon this year. It was at the Washington State Trade and Convention Center and it was SO MUCH FUN. Did anybody else go? If you saw a girl dressed as blond Nana in her cream colored dress with black shirt, brown/black socks, platform sandals, and black headband, that was totally me! (not many people knew who I was, though ;;;)

Anyway, had a great time, and on Saturday night, I got to see the last 20 minutes of the Belle and Sebastian concert for free! Go me!

Onto a review of reviews…actually, I'm really tired, and I really want to finish this, so I don't think I'm going to do a review of reviews for this one. But I will say this:

Thank you, everyone, who reviewed, they made my day!

Sorry for grammatically errors, this is Kib saying over and out!


	19. Happily Ever After

**Title**: Blindsided

**By**: Kibethan

**Disclaimer**: Does ANYONE on this site own the rights to anything that they write about? I think not. So why would I be any different?

**Summary**: Yuki isn't exactly a favorite in the public's eye, so his editor decides to shape him up by volunteering him to volunteer at a hospital. What will happen when he meets a particularly interesting patient by the name of Shindou Shuichi?

**Half-warning**: Um, yeah, YOU'RE WARNED! …I'm not sure about what, though.

**Happily Ever After**

**Chapter 19**

Pain filled Yuki's entire being. He had no idea why it hurt as much as it did, but all he knew was that he wanted it to stop. He opened his mouth to ask for help, but when he tried to use his vocal cords, they just cracked and refused to work.

Yuki was confused and slightly panicky. He couldn't ever remember being in as much pain as he currently was, and he certainly couldn't remember ever getting into any situations where this kind of pain would be possible.

Exactly what **had** happened?

Yuki tried to open his eyes. He reasoned that maybe if he could see around him, he would be able to remember what happened. However, when he tried to open his eyes, he found that his eyelids felt like lead.

His heart rate sped up and his breathing became shallow and erratic. All of a sudden, somebody was by his side, touching him.

"I think he's waking up!" the voice exclaimed. Yuki was more confused than ever. Waking up? He couldn't even remember going to sleep. "Come on, Yuki, come on. You can do it." Yuki felt another presence beside him. Whoever it felt for his left hand and then grabbed onto it with both hands.

"Please, Yuki, wake up," it pleaded with him. The voice sounded so familiar, like the kind of voice that he should be able to recognize at the drop of a hat. In fact, Yuki was dead sure that he knew the voice.

And maybe, if he could remember it, he would be able to remember why he was in such pain.

"Yuki, please, please, _please_ wake up. I can't take it anymore," the voice seemed so close to tears. Yuki tried to lift his hand, but again, his body wouldn't respond to him. Yuki was frustrated. Whoever the voice was, he had a feeling that he didn't want that person to be crying.

With more effort than he had ever put forth for the motion, Yuki managed to open his eyes. What he saw astounded him.

A nurse and a doctor were standing beside him, looking hopeful. On the other side of the bed, however, was Shuichi with unshed tears in his eyes and tear-streaks down his eyelids. Shuichi was looking towards him, even if he wasn't looking at him.

"Thank God," the nurse started, "Yuki-san, you've been asleep for quite a while. Poor Shuichi here was almost dead on his feet staying by your side the entire time."

Shuichi had the nerve to blush.

"Yu…ki…are you really awake?" Shuichi's fingers started running down his arm towards his face trying to figure out if he really was awake. With great effort Yuki grabbed his hands and stopped them when they were on his shoulders.

Picking them up, he brought them to Shuichi's cheeks. He brushed his thumbs under Shuichi's eye, wiping away any tears that were starting to form.

Yuki started trying again to speak, to ease Shuichi's fears –as though his hands on Shuichi's face wasn't proof enough. However, once again, his voice didn't work the way he thought it should.

The nurse, however, saw his plight and, after nodding to him telling him what she was doing, she scurried off to get him some water. She returned a few seconds later with a glass full of cold water.

When Yuki tried to sit up to drink it, though, pain tore through his midsection and he involuntarily cried out loud and sank back to the bed. Shuichi visibly winced at the sound of Yuki's pain.

"Yuki, you're awake, aren't you? If you're awake, rub the side of my face with your palm!" Yuki did as he was told and Shuichi relaxed, but not for very long. "Yuki! Stay lying down! They told me that your wound was really, really bad! I mean, you were out for eight days!"

Yuki started at that. Eight days? Surely it couldn't have been that long? What could have possibly happened? Yuki still didn't remember, but he figured it had something to do with the intense pain that was happening in his side. His mind was incredibly fuzzy. After managing to drink the water, he replied to Shuichi.

"Eight days? I was asleep for eight days? I don't even remember what happened."

A look of confusion passed across Shuichi's face. "What…? Don't remember what happened…? But, but, you were,"

"That's enough, Shuichi, Yuki needs his rest."

"Wait! I was what? What happened to me, Shuichi?" Yuki asked the one person who he could trust to tell him the truth.

"That's enough, Yuki-san, sleep now." Yuki started to protest as the same nurse of mercy that had given him the class of cold water inserted yet another needle into his skin to put his to sleep. As his eyes were closing he was cursing the ground that the lady walked on.

The next time Yuki woke up, it was dark out and his head was much clearer. The nurse and the doctor weren't in there anymore, but when Yuki finished scanning the room for people, he saw Shuichi sleeping sitting up in a chair across the room.

Remembering his intense pain from the last time, Yuki was extremely careful when he sat up. It still made him wince but at least this time he was expecting it so he was able to deal with the pain and it eventually went away.

Something was nagging at the back of his mind, like something incredibly important had happened, but he couldn't remember for the life of him what had happened. His mind puzzled over it for a while when all of a sudden he noticed bandages wrapped around Shuichi's head and arm.

How he had not noticed them earlier, he would never know, but he had a feeling that whatever had happened to Shuichi had something to do with what had happened to him. More importantly, who had dared to hurt Shuichi? The Shuichi that he had come to know would never hurt anybody intentionally –unless they deserved it, of course.

Yuki gasped; he had just realized something very important.

Perhaps it was just the wound talking –surely the real Yuki would never feel this much emotion at all- but before he knew it, he'd been blindsided by love.

That's right, before he'd known it; he's fallen in love with Shuichi. Yuki gasped again at his revelation. He couldn't figure out when it had happened, but there was no use denying it. Somewhere between arguing with Shuichi and trying to save him, he'd fallen for Shuichi, hard.

Just watching Shuichi lie on the chair was almost too much for him to take. He needed to let Shuichi know how he felt –but what if he didn't feel the same? Yuki started reasoning in his head that Shuichi just HAD to feel the same, after all, when they had shared their little kiss together, he was certain that Shuichi had added a little something to it, and not on accident either.

Yuki felt at peace while he was watching Shuichi sleep. The pink-haired brat –for, he had been a slight brat at the beginning- looked very peaceful in his sleep. Suddenly, as though sensing that he was being watched, Shuichi stirred in his sleep.

His eyes blinked open, and he carefully made his way to the bed. The entire time Shuichi was moving, Yuki was keeping perfectly still, breathing at appropriate intervals, trying to portray that he was still asleep.

Shuichi felt for the bed and put his hands on Yuki's, "I'm sorry, Yuki, I'm so, so, so, sorry." Yuki was confused. What could Shuichi possibly be apologizing for? "It's all my fault you almost got killed –that you got shot."

Yuki was reeling. Shot? How? Well, that certainly explained the pain. Why the doctors wouldn't tell him, he couldn't figure out. Wait, shot?

It was like the floodgates of his mind had opened. Everything that had happened from before he had gone into a coma ran into his mind and he had to bite hard on his lip to keep from crying out.

Taki. What had happened after Taki had shot him? What had he done to Shuichi? He shifted his position and he heard Shuichi take a sharp intake of breath. Shuichi started to retreat when Yuki grabbed his arm to keep him there.

"Yuki, you were awake?" Shuichi blushed at being caught talking to Yuki in his sleep.

"Yes."

"Did you…hear what happened? They told me I was supposed to not tell you because it could send you into shock! You're not going into shock, are you? If you're going into shock, please tell me! Because I can't see, so I can't tell!" Yuki was about to answer that he was fine when Shuichi just kept talking, apparently the floodgates of things that Shuichi needed to admit had opened to. "It was just like that night! I couldn't see, so I had no idea what had happened! I heard the bullet; I heard you drop, but I still couldn't tell if it had hit something fatal!" Tears were spilling openly down Shuichi's eyes again. "I couldn't tell whether or not you were dead; I called and called you, but you never answered me. I was so, so worried."

"Shuichi," Yuki started. Shuichi turned towards the sound of his voice. "What happened after I got shot?" Shuichi turned away from him and his voice got somber.

"All hell broke loose. And I couldn't see any of it, which was the worst part. What was told to me that happened, though, is unbeknownst to you, Hiro had followed you to make sure that you did it right. When he had heard you begin to hand over the money, he looked in and when he saw the crazy look that was in Taki's eyes," Shuichi paused to sniffle, "he had called the cops that were apparently hiding a few blocks back. Taki hadn't been very thorough in his search. They had showed up and after the shot had been fired, they had burst in and had somehow managed to take over the situation. Taki and his crew were arrested."

"I see." Yuki was definitely a man of few words.

"I'm still trying to figure out why Taki did it. I mean, he couldn't have done all that out of pure hate, right? I can't even figure out why Taki hates me. Isn't that pathetic? You got shot for a reason that I can't even begin to fathom."

"Shuichi, hate does a lot of things to a lot of people. Hate has led to some of the worst crimes committed in the world. Do not blame yourself. Taki has his own reasons, whatever or however petty they may be." Yuki decided that he needed to lighten the situation a little bit. "So, where did Taki get those goonies of his, anyway?"

"Apparently Taki confessed to just about everything. He had stolen a few ladies' purses –you know, the people that flaunt off all their money- and had used that to buy them. They weren't very loyal, though. From what I had heard, as soon as they had heard the cops come in, they had tried to run away as fast as they possibly could. I'm starting to get a little bit of faith in the police system around here –at least they managed to catch them."

Yuki nodded, then shook his head when he realized that Shuichi couldn't see him. "Yes. Shuichi. Remember back when you first got to know me? You mentioned **it**. What was **it** exactly that had happened?" Shuichi's eyes darkened.

"**It** was just a horrible, horrible accident. It was a car accident, to be more specific. My entire family and I were taking a drive around the countryside, but, unfortunately, the roads were icier than we thought and the car ran off the road," Shuichi paused.

"And…everybody except you were instantly killed?" Yuki questioned quietly. Shuichi shook his head.

"No, that's not the case at all. What happened was worse. My little sister was instantly killed, as was my father. My mother, so enraged with sorrow went completely crazy and tried to kill herself and me so that our entire family could be together. Luckily –or maybe unluckily, I suppose- a neighbor heard my mother making an awful racket and called the cops. They stopped her and took her to a mental institution where she is today." Tears were flowing down Shuichi's cheeks. "You have no idea how much I wish sometimes that she had succeeded. Especially when Taki shot you. All I could think was, 'If mom had killed me, then Yuki would never have been hurt.'"

Yuki's heart broke. "Shuichi, never ever, ever think like that again. If you had died, then I would never have met you." Yuki was still clearly being more emotional that ever. He reminded himself to talk to his nurse when he got the chance. However, while his mine was being very emotional and caring, a thought of what might help Shuichi popped into his head. "Shuichi, come on up here."

Shuichi's eyes widened.

"W-what?"

"It is okay, come on up here."

Shuichi looked down, embarrassed at the thought of it. "B-but, what about your injuries?"

"Baka, I'm fine, just crawl up here." Shuichi, still embarrassed managed to climb onto the bed. Sure, Yuki was still injured, and indeed it did still hurt until they got settled together, but once they did, the pleasure that Yuki felt lying next to Shuichi was able to overcome any pain that Yuki still felt.

Shuichi grabbed on tight to Yuki's arm. "I was scared, so scared," he reiterated over and over. Yuki shushed him.

"It's okay, Shuichi, it's okay. I'm okay, we're both okay, everything is going to be okay." Yuki turned slightly onto his good side and planted a kiss on Shuichi's forehead. "Calm down, everything is okay."

Shuichi's breathing evened out a bit. "You know," he started, "Everybody came to visit you while you were out. Hiro. Suguru. K and Ryuichi. Ezaniya. All of the kids that you had ever hung out with had also came. Everyone was so worried. Even your editor came in to make sure that you were okay."

Yuki raised an eyebrow at this. "Really, did she say anything?"

Shuichi's face knitted together in a laugh. "Yeah, she said that if you didn't wake up soon that you would miss your next deadline for your story, and what would your fans think if you did something like that?"

Yuki furrowed his eyebrows. "Of course she said that."

Shuichi giggled, "Of course, she also said that if anything ever happened to you over something that she had made you do –volunteer, apparently?- then she would never forgive herself."

"Well, it's a good thing that I woke up, then, isn't it?"

Shuichi smiled. "YEP!"

Yuki couldn't resist capturing those lips into another kiss. It wasn't the short chaste kiss that he had given Shuichi earlier, and it wasn't one that was forced on him, either. No, this one came entirely from Yuki himself.

When they finally had to break for air (breathe through their noses? Why would they do something as obvious as that?), Yuki brought his lips to Shuichi's ear.

"I love you, Shuichi. I don't know why, and I don't know how, but I love you. I would have taken a bullet for you any day."

Shuichi started crying. "I love you too." After another short kiss, they both fell asleep, holding each other.

The headline for the newspaper the next day was:

"_Yuki Eiri, famed author has woken up finally after being shot last week protecting his very good friend_."

Yuki's editor smiled as she flipped through the article. Good publicity. Her plan had worked after all.

**End Chapter 19**

**End Blindsided**

:starts crying: Oh my God. It's over. It's over. It's over. It's actually over. It's been almost a year and a half since I started writing this story and it's finally over. (And yes, I'm actually trying not to cry right now).

I hope that you guys liked the ending –I don't think it was too short, especially since I really didn't want this story to drag on forever.

By the time I post this, it will be April 4th. I picked this date for a reason to update this (some of you may know). Because, it's…MY BIRTHDAY!

HAHAHAHA…not only THAT, but it's my 19th birthday as well. So, basically, I finished Blindsided with the 19th chapter on my 19th birthday. Slightly corny, I know, but still.

It's important.

Thank you everybody who's reviewed and stuck with me through this entire story; it means more to me than you could ever know.

This is Kib-chan saying for the last time for this story, over and out.


End file.
